■      iit^mmrmtmm^^mmmfmmmm^m^nmn 


BR  520  .T7  1842  c.l 
Tracy,  Joseph,  17937-1874. 
The  great  awakening 


THE   GREAT   AWAKENING. 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


REVIVAL   OF   RELIGION 


I.V  THE  TIME  OF 


EDWARDS  AND  WHITEFIELD. 


By  JOSEPH   TRACY. 


"  Then  shall  ye  return,  and  discern  between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked ;  between 
him  that  serveth  God,  and  him  that  serFelh  him  not."  — Malachi  m.  13. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  TAPPAN   &  DENNET. 

NEW  YORK ;  DAYTON  &  NEWMAN.    PHILADELPHIA : 
HENRY  PERKINS. 

1842. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1841,  by 

JOSEPH  TRACY, 

in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


B  0  S  T  O  N  :  • 
Printed  by  S.  N.  Dickinson, 
No.  52  Waihington  St. 


PREFACE. 


During  the  year  1S40,  public  meetings  were  held  in 
some  places,  and  proposed  in  others,  in  commemoration 
of  what  Edwards  called  "  The  Revival  of  Religion  in 
New  En2land  in  1740."  This  first  suss;ested  to  the  au- 
thor  the  design  of  the  present  work.  No  history  of  that 
revival  had  ever  been  attempted.  Its  importance  in  it- 
self, and  in  its  influence  on  the  subsequent  state  of  the 
churches,  was  universally  acknowledged.  Yet  opinions 
concerning  it  were  various  and  discordant,  even  among 
evangelical  ministers ;  some  thinking  it  worthy  of  un- 
mixed eulogy  in  public  celebrations,  others  speaking  of 
it  with  only  guarded  and  qualified  commendation,  and 
others  doubting  whether  it  should  not  be  mentioned  rath- 
er with  censure  than  otherwise.  For  the  last  ten  years,^ 
too,  the  advocates  of  all  kinds  of  "measures,"  new  and 
old,  have  been  asserting  that  the  events  and  results  of 
that  revival  justified  their  several  theories  and  practices. 
There  was,  therefore,  evident  need  of  a  work,  which 
should  furnish  the  means  of  suitably  appreciating  both 
the  good  and  the  evil  of  that  period  of  religious  history. 

The  next  question  was  concerning  its  possibility.  Could 
materials  be  found,  for  the  construction  of  such  a  work  ? 
A  slight  investigation  was  sufficient  to  furnish  an  answer. 
The  public  libraries  contain  abundant  materials,  of  which 
some  account  must  now  be  given. 

The  leading   authority  is    "  The   Christian    History ; 


a* 


IV  PREFACE. 

containing  accounts  of  the  Revival  and  Propagation  of 
Religion  in  Great  Britain  and  America."  It  was  first  sug- 
gested by  Edwards,  in  the  conclusion  of  his  "  Thouglits 
on  the  Revival  of  Religion  in  New  England."  The  first 
number  was  issued  March  5,  1743,  and  it  was  continued, 
in  weekly  numbers  of  eight  pages,  small  octavo,  for  two 
years.  It  was  conducted  by  Thomas  Prince,  Jr.,  son  of 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  Old 
South  Church.  Letters  from  ministers,  giving  accounts 
of  the  progress  and  state  of  religion  in  their  several  par- 
ishes, compose  the  greater  part  of  its  contents.  So  far 
as  is  known,  this  was  the  first  periodical  for  the  difi'usion 
of  contemporary  religious  intelligence,  ever  established. 
Similar  publications  were  soon  after  commenced  in  Lon- 
don and  Glasgow.  When  the  publication  of  the  first 
volume  was  completed,  some  copies,  remaining  in  the 
Iiands  of  the  publisher,  were  bound  and  oflTered  for  sale. 
This  volume  is  not  very  uncommon  ;  and  not  unfre- 
quently  passes  for  the  whole  work.  Both  volumes  are 
preserved,  entire,  in  the  libraries  of  the  Boston  Athenasum 
and  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  This  work 
was  published  for  the  sake  of  promoting  the  revival,  and 
therefore  gives  accounts  which  were  then  esteemed  fa- 
vorable, though  it  relates  many  things  which  no  one 
now  would  commend. 

Whitefield's  account  of  his  own  life,  his  Journals  and 
his  Letters,  deserve  to  be  mentioned  next.  His  Journals 
were  originally  published  in  pamphlets,  of  a  moderate 
size.  They  appeared  as  often  as  he  could  find  time  to 
prepare  them  for  the  press,  which  was  often  done  with- 
out sufficient  care.  He  afterwards  collected,  revised,  and 
published  them  as  one  work.  In  preparing  this  history, 
the  original,  unrevised  Journals  have  been  exclusively 
used  ;  for,  as  the  faults  in  the  first  editions  produced  im- 
portant effects,  it  is  necessary  to  know  what  they  were. 
The  account  of  his  life  was  prefixed  to  the  first  Journal 


PREFACE.  V 

that  he  published,  and  relates  only  to  its  previous  years. 
His  letters  were  collected  after  his  deatii,  and,  with  some 
of  his  sermons  and  other  works  of  less  importance,  pub- 
lished in  four  octavo  volumes. 

Controversial  publications  of  that  day,  too  numerous 
to  be  specified  individually,  form  a  third  source  of  in- 
formation. The  most  able  and  best  known  of  these  are 
Edwards'  "  Thoughts  on  the  Revival  of  Religion  in 
New  England  in  1740,*'  and  Chauncys  '•  Seasonable 
Thoughts  on  the  State  of  Religion  in  New  England." 
Besides  these,  about  one  hundred  pamphlets  published 
during  the  revival,  or  soon  after,  have  been  consulted. 
The  greater  part  of  them  have  been  of  service,  only  as 
aids  in  understanduig  others,  by  the  exhibitions  which 
they  give  of  the  spirit  of  the  times.  Something  has  been 
gleaned  from  the  files  of  newspapers,  preserved  by  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  and  American  Antiquarian  So- 
cieties. 

The  records  of  churches  ought  to  furnish  an  important 
class  of  documents ;  but  generally,  so  far  as  the  author 
has  been  able  to  learn,  they  are  either  lost,  or  were  badly 
kept,  and  furnish  no  valuable  aid.  Such  has  proved  to 
be  the  fact,  in  every  instance,  where  the  absence  of  print- 
ed documents  rendered  their  aid  peculiarly  desirable.  A 
few  papers  from  the  files  of  the  church  in  Sturbridge, 
furnished  by  the  kindness  of  its  late  pastor,  the  Rev. 
J.  S.  Clark,  is  all  that  has  been  obtained  from  such 
sources.  More  will  doubtless  be  found,  whenever  the 
attention  of  the  pastors  of  ancient  churches  shall  be  ef- 
fectually drawn  to  the  investigation. 

Town  histories  have  usually  been  written  by  men  who 
could  find  but  little  information  on  this  subject,  or  who 
were  unable  to  appreciate  its  importance,  or  who  sup- 
posed such  matter  would  not  be  valued  by  those  for  whom 
they  Avrote.     Yet  they  have  contributed  something. 


VI  PREFACE 

Backiis's  '•  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  Baptists  in  New 
England  "  is  an  important  authority,  though  it  furnishes 
little  matter  peculiar  to  itself  Backus  was  one  of  that 
class  of  Separatists  which  the  revival  brought  into  being, 
and  like  many  others  of  them,  became  a  Baptist.  Of 
course,  he  gives  those  views  of  the  merits  of  the  several 
parties  which  the  Separatists  entertained ;  and  yet  he  is 
honest  enough  to  record  some  faults  of  his  own  party, 
which  are  not  recorded  by  their  opponents. 

Trumbull's  "  History  of  Connecticut "  gives  a  valua- 
ble account  of  the  revival  as  it  was  in  that  colony,  with 
incidental  notices  of  it  in  other  places.  Perhaps  his  per- 
sonal friendship  for  those  zealous  and  active  revivalists, 
Pomroy  and  Wheelock,  with  whom  he  was  intimate,  and 
whom  he  learned  to  venerate  in  his  youth,  may  have 
biased  his  judgment  on  some  points.  Still,  he  is  an  unu- 
sually candid  writer,  and  his  personal  acquaintance  with 
the  fruits  of  the  revival  gives  additional  importance  to 
his  narrative. 

A  biography  of  Edwards  should  contain  almost  a  com- 
plete account  of  the  revival ;  for  in  no  other  way  can 
the  influence  of  his  mind  on  the  country  and  on  the 
world  be  fully  shown.  His  biographers,  however,  seem 
not  to  have  found  the  requisite  materials.  Yet  the  in- 
dustry of  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  E.  D wight  has  collected  matter 
which  throws  important  light  on  some  parts  of  it. 

The  author  has  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  Life  of 
Dr.  Buel,  or  the  Life  of  Gilbert  Tennent,  which  was 
written  by  his  friend  President  Finley.  A  Life  of  Dr. 
Bellamy  is  believed  to  be  still  a  desideratum.  The  Me- 
moir of  Wheelock  despatches  the  history  of  his  labors  in 
the  revival,  in  a  single  page  of  vague  generalities.  A 
notice  of  his  life  and  character  in  the  American  (Quarterly 
Register,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Allen,  contains  valuable  ex- 
tracts from  his  diary  during   some  of  those  labors.     A 


PREFACE.  vii 

well  written  and  impartial  history  of  his  life  and  labors, 
with  copious  selections  from  his  writings,  for  which  ma- 
terials probably  exist,  would  be  valuable.  There  is  scarce 
another  man  of  equal  eminence  in  that  age,  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  whose  character  and  style  of  promoting  reli- 
gion we  have  so  little  satisfactory  information  ;  and  yet 
there  is  reason  to  suspect  that  those  peculiarities  exerted 
an  important  influence. 

The  Constitutional  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
by  the  Rev.  Prof.  Hodge,  of  Princeton,  has  been  a  valu- 
able assistant.  It  is  an  elegantly  written  work,  of  great 
historical  research,  and  must  ever  remain  a  standard  work 
among  those  to  whose  communion  he  belongs.  Yet,  on 
some  points  incidentally  noticed,  it  has  appeared  necessary 
to  dissent  from  his  conclusions. 

The  Memoir  of  Whitefield,  by  Dr.  Gillies,  and  Philip's 
Life  and  Times  of  Whitefield,  have  of  course  been  con- 
sulted. The  latter  has  furnished  some  valuable  facts 
and  suggestions,  especially  respecting  the  revival  in  Scot- 
land.* 

•  Philip  asks  :  "  By  the  way,  what  became  of  the  Mss.  and  books  which 
Prince  left  to  the  Old  South  Church,  as  the  New  England  Library?  The 
collection  was  great  and  valuable.  Can  it  be  true  that  the  Mss.  were  de- 
stroyed by  the  British,  except  by  accident  ?  I  ask  this  question,  because  I 
find  '  No,'  in  pencil  mark,  on  the  margin  of  my  copy  of  .4mcr.  Biog."  The 
answer,  —  to  use  language  once  familiar  in  Great  Britain,  —  must  be  "  More 
yes  than  no."'  During  the  siege  of  Boston,  the  Old  South  meetinghouse 
was  used  for  a  riding  school.  In  the  winter,  a  stove  was  placed  in  it,  and 
the  timber  of  the  pews  and  galleries,  except  the  gallery  on  one  side,  which 
was  reserved  for  spectators,  was  ssed  for  fuel,  and  the  library,  which  was 
kept  in  a  room  under  the  belfry,  said  to  have  been  Prince's  study,  fur- 
nished paper  to  kindle  the  fires.  Of  course,  the  Mss.  and  pamphlets, 
being  most  convenient  for  that  purpose,  suffered  most  severely.  Nearly  all 
the  Mss.  which  escaped  the  stove,  and  about  200  volumes  from  the  library, 
most  appropriate  to  such  a  destination,  are  deposited  in  the  library  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  The  remainder  of  the  library,  which 
contains  several  thousands  of  volumes,  is  kept  in  the  Parsonage.  Tt  con- 
tains many  old  theological  and  other  works  of  great  value,  and  is  still  rich 
in  pamphlets  of  the  times  in  which  it  was  collected.     It  was  doubtless  the 


y 


Viii  PREFACE. 

A  slight  inspection  of  these  multifarious  documents 
was  enough  to  show,  that  the  period  of  "  The  Great 
Awakening  "  needed  to  be  carefully  studied  ;  that  some 
great  idea  was  then  extensively  at  work,  breaking  up 
established  and  venerated  habits  of  thought,  feeling  and 
action,  and  producing  a  revolution  in  the  minds  of  men, 
and  thus  in  the  very  structure  of  society.  The  agitations 
of  that'  day  had  all  the  characteristic  marks,  by  which 
such  periods  of  human  history  are  distinguished.  The  A 
first  work  of  the  historian,  therefore,  must  be,  to  seize 
that  great  idea.  He  must  ascertain,  what  was  that  truth, 
before  unknown  or  neglected  and  inoperative,  which, 
working  in  the  minds  of  those  who  received  it,  and  on 
the  minds  of  its  opposers,  according  to  each  man's  situa- 
tion, temperament  and  degree  of  mental  and  moral  culti- 
vation, produced  the  various  phenomena  of  the  revival. 
With  a  knowledge  of  that  idea,  we  shall  be  able  to 
understand  the  history  of  those  times ;  to  appreciate  the 
motives  from  which  men  acted  ;  to  see  how  some  were 
led  into  their  errors,  and  others  made  their  way  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  ;  to  ascertain  the  kind,  and  esti- 
mate the  amount,  of  good  and  evil  influences  which  the 
revival  left  behind  it ;  to  draw  from  a  knowledge  of  those 
times,  the  proper  lessons,  both  of  encouragement  and 
warning.     Without  it,  we  shall  have  only  a  labyrinth  of 

best  collection  of  means  for  illustrating  the  religious  history  of  Great  Brit- 
ain and  America  during  those  times,  that  ever  existed. 

"  By  the  way,"  why  does  Philip  call  the  Congregational  Meetinghouses 
in  Boston,  "  chapels  ?  "  The  term  may  be  needed  in  England,  to  distinguish 
other  places  of  worship  from  those  of  the  Established  Church ;  but  it  is 
never  used  in  that  sense  here.  And  why  does  he  use  italics,  when  he  says, 
that  a  certain  negro  at  Cambridge  "  had  been  allowed  "  to  hear  Whitefield 
preach .'  Does  be  suppose  that  there  ever  was  a  time  when  the  few  negroes 
in  New  England  were  not  "  allowed  "  as  free  access  to  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  as  the  white  inhabitants  enjoyed  ?  The  negro  in  question  had  prob- 
ably been  "  allowed  "  to  hear  Whitefield  preach  "  in  the  College,"  on  some 
occasion  when  the  public  was  not  admitted. 


PREFACE.  IX 

facts  ;  and  though  familiar  with  each,  shall  not  understand 
their  relations  to  each  other,  nor  be  able  safely  to  de- 
rive one  practical  lesson  from  the  whole. 

The  history  of  religious  opinions  and  practices  shows,        ] 
that  the  most  important  practical  idea  which  then  received 
increased  prominence  and  power,  and  has  held  its  place 
ever  since,  was  the  idea  of  the  "  new  birth,"  as  held  by     * 
the  Orthodox   Congregationalists  of  New   England,   and 
others  who  harmonize  with  them  ;  the  doctrine,  that  in 
order  to  be  saved,  a  man  must  undergo  a  change  in  his 
principles  of  moral  action,  which  will  be  either  accompa- 
nied or  succeeded  by  exercises  of  which  he  is  conscious, 
and  can  give  an  account ;  so  that  those  who  have  been 
thus  changed,  may  ordinarily  be  distinguished  from  those 
who  have  not ;  from  which  it  follows,  that  all  who  exhibit 
no  evidence  of  such   a  change,  ought  to  be  considered 
and  treated  as  unregenerate,  and  in  the  road  to  perdition, 
and  therefore   not  admitted  to  the    communion  of    the  ~"^ 
churches.     This  doctrine  of  the  "  new  birth,"  as  an  as- 
certainable   change,  was  not   generally  prevalent  in  any  j 
communion  when  the   revival  commenced  ;  it  was  urged 
as  of  fundamental  importance,  by  the  leading  promoters      ' 
of  the  revival  ;  it   took  strong  hold  of  those  whom  the 
revival  affected  ;  it'  naturally  led  to  such  questions  as  the 
revival  brought  up  and  caused  to  be  discussed ;  its  per-    - 
versions  naturally  grew  into,  or  associated  with,  such  errors 
as  the  revival  promoted  ;  it  was  adapted  to  provoke  such 
opposition,  and  in  such  quarters,  as  the  revival  provoked  ; 
and  its  caricatures  would  furnish  such  pictures  of  the 
revival,  as  opposers  drew.     This  was  evidently  the  right 
key  ;  for  it  fitted  all  the  wards  of  the  complicated  lock. 

If  this  work  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  any  who 
have  not  been  accustomed  to  regard  this  doctrine  with 
respect,  perhaps  a  few  words  of  explanation  may  enable 
them  to  understand  better  what  it  is,  and  to  see  that  it 
deserves  their  attention. 


X  PREFACE. 

f~  In  being  a  Christian,  two  things  are  implied  ;  the  re- 
ception of  the  Christian  system  as  our  creed,  and  the 
conformity  of  our  inward  and  outward  life  to  its  teachings. 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  and  perhaps  some  others 
who  labor  among  the  heathen,  count  all  as  converts  who 
adopt  their  creed,  even  though  they  adopt  it  in  the  gross, 
with  no  knowledge  of  the  particular  doctrines  contained 
in  it.  In  Christian  lands,  most  persons  grow  up,  of 
course,  into  this  kind  of  Christianity,  and  live  on,  without 
seriously  inquiring  whether  they  live  as  the  gospel  re- 
quires. Many,  in  the  course  of  their  lives,  some  in  one 
way  and  some  in  another,  are  "  awakened  "  to  this  in- 
quiry. When  awakened,  the  very  thought  that  they 
know  not  whether  they  are  in  the  way  to  heaven  or  not ; 
that  they  have  lived  so  many  years,  in  hourly  danger  of 
death,  without  once  seriously  considering  whether  they 
are  prepared,  or  even  preparing  for  it,  is  alarming.  To 
noble  and  ingenuous  minds,  the  thought  that  they  have 
lived  so  long  without  seriously  considering  how  they 
treat  certain  duties  which  many  call  important,  and  may 
therefore  be  much  deeper  in  guilt  than  they  ever  sus- 
pected, is  more  alarming  still.  Then  follows  self-exam- 
ination, —  the  deliberate  comparison  of  their  own  lives, 
inward  and  outward,  towards  God,  their  neighbours  and 
their  own  consciences,  with  the  Christian  standard.  The 
result  of  self-examination  is  the  discovery  of  guilt,  or,  in 
the  technical  language  of  practical  theology,  conviction 
\^oi  sin.  The  discovery  that  we  are  morally  worse  than 
Ave  ever  supposed,  is  an  appalling  discovery.  To  him 
who  makes  it,  —  if  he  is  not  hopelessly  joined  with  apos- 
tate spirits,  and  ready  to  say,  with  their  leader,  "  Evil, 
be  thou  my  good,"  it  must  be  a  source  of  anxiety.  It 
must  bring  up  the  questions,  whether  reformation  is  pos- 
sible, and  if  so,  how  ?  And  whether  punishment  is  to  be 
apprehended,  and  if  so,  whether  it  may  be  avoided,  and 


PREFACE  Xi 

how.  If  reformation  is  possible,  and  pardon  may  be  ob- 
tained, the  inquirer,  though  now  a  sinner,  may  become  a 
holy  and  happy  being.  If  not.  he  must  be  unholy  and 
miserable  for  the  remainder  of  his  conscious  existence,  — 
which  may  be,  and  he  has  reason  to  suppose,  will  be, 
eternal.  Such  a  prospect,  no  man,  especially  no  one 
to  whom  it  is  new,  can  contemplate  without  feeUng. 
With  such  views  in  his  mind,  and  corresponding  emotions 
in  his  heart,  the  incjuirer  seeks  the  solution  of  these  ques- 
tions in  his  Bible,  from  his  pastor,  or  from  others  whom 
he  believes  to  be  truly  pious ;  and  above  all,  calls  on  the 
Father  of  spirits  to  enlighten  him.  Men  may  tell  him 
that  his  anxiety  is  needless  ;  that  God  is  merciful,  and 
there  is  no  danger  ;  but  this  caimot  satisfy  him.  He 
must  understand  the  remedy  for  himself,  and  see  its  adapt- 
ation to  his  newly  discovered  spiritual  wants.  He  has 
found  in  himself  the  spiritual  wants  which  the  Bible 
ascribes  to  man,  and  therefore  understands  those  parts  of 
the  Bible  better  than  he  ever  did  before  ;  as  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  plant  is  better  understood,  when  read  with  a 
specimen  before  the  eyes.  He  needs  the  same  clear  and 
satisfying  view  of  the  gospel  remedy  for  sin  and  guilt, 
and  of  its  adaptation  to  his  spiritual  wants  ;  and  not  even 
the  words  of  Scripture  can  give  him  rest,  till  he  has  it ; 
and  when  it  comes,  it  cannot  fail  to  fill  his  heart  with 
joy.  He  sees  the  way,  walks  in  it  gladly,  and  finds  by 
experience  that  his  spiritual  wants  are  met. 

Such,  in  substance,  is  the  Christian  experience  of  all 
real  converts ;  modified,  however,  by  individual  peculiar- 
ities of  character  and  circumstances.  In  some,  the  process 
occupies  several  years ;  in  others,  it  is  so  rapid  that  some 
of  the  steps  are  seen  only  in  their  results  ;  in  others  still, 
it  is  repeatedly  interrupted  and  resumed.  Varieties  are 
caused  by  the  varieties  of  intellectual  character  and  style 

of  thought  ;  of  errors  which  the  inquirer  is  unwilling  to 

h 


Xll  PREFACE. 

abandon  :  of  sins  which  he  is  unwiUing  to  forsake  ;  of 
temptations  from  natural  temper,  from  pursuits  in  life, 
from  social  relations,  and  from  the  intentional  hindrance 
or  assistance  of  others.  Bodily  health,  from  its  known 
influence  over  the  powers  of  thought  and  emotion,  cannot 
fail  to  modify  the  process;  which,  in  its  turn,  especially 
in  persons  of  a  nervous  temperament,  may  re-act  on  the 
nerves,  and  through  them,  on  itself.  But  in  all  cases  the 
essential  parts  of  the  process  are  substantially  the  same. 
In  every  case  there  will  be,  not  a  mere  unintelligent 
fright,  succeeded  by  a  joy  without  reason  ;  not  a  mere 
learning  of  things  by  rote,  or  taking  of  things  for  granted 
on  the  testimony  of  others  ;  but  original  thought,  —  for 
self-examination  must  be  original  thought ;  —  there  will 
be  discoveries  of  truth  by -original  thinking,  and  emotions 
appropriate  to  those  discoveries  ;  all  agreeable  to  the  prin- 
ciples taught  in  the  Scriptures,  and  leading  to  such  a  life 
as  Christianity  requires. 

Now,  will  any  one  pretend,  that  persons  who  have  been 
through  this  process  themselves,  cannot,  by  examination, 
form  a  reasonable  judgment  whether  others  have  been 
through  it  or  not  ?  What  teacher,  what  school  committee 
man,  cannot  ascertain  whether  a  boy  has  seen  for  himself 
and  understands  the  nature  and  reason  of  the  rule  for 
working  simple  addition,  or  whether  he  has  only  learned 
it  by  rote  ?  Cannot  pretenders  in  any  branch  of  science 
be  detected  ?  Cannot  one  who  has  understood  and  felt 
the  power  of  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  judge  whether  an- 
other has  understood  and  felt  the  same,  or  whether  he 
only  repeats,  parrot-like,  some  of  Addison's  criticisms  ? 
If  discrimination  is  possible  in  such  cases  as  these,  it 
must  also,  on  the  same  principle,  be  possible  for  those 
who  are  qualified,  to  judge  whether  a  man  has  made  those 
discoveries  of  religious  truth,  and  felt  those  emotions, 
which  are  essential  to  Christian  experience. 


PREFACE.  xiii 

It  is  doubtless  true,  that  there  can  be  no  infallibility, 
with  fallible  judges ;  and  that  the  errors  of  enthusiasts 
have  done  much  to  bring  the  relation  of  experiences  into 
disrepute  ;  and  that  some  religious  men  have  been  made 
iishamed  to  show  any  respect  for  the   practice,  by  the 
sneers  of  those  who.  having  no  religious  experience  them- 
selves, hate  and  despise   all  regard  for  it  in  others  ;  and 
that,  for  such  reasons,  the  subject  has  received  less  atten- 
tion than  it  deserves,  and   is  not  so  well  understood  as  it 
might  be  and  ought   to  be.     Still,  it  is  no   unimportant 
means  of  forming  a  judgment  of   Christian  character  ; 
and  when   prejudices,  arising   from  its  abuse  in  days   of 
Ignorance,  shall  have  passed  away,  men  will  be  ashamed 
to  own  that  they  ever  doubted  its  value. 

The  history  of  the  "  Great  xV wakening  "'  is  the  history  ~1, 
of  this  idea,  making  its  way  througli  some  communities 
where  it  had  Allien  into  comparative  neglect,  and  throuf'h 
others  where  it  was  nearly  or  quite  unknown  ;  overturn- 
ing theories  and  habits  and  forms  of  organization  incon- 
sistent with  it,  where   it  could  prevail,  and  repelled  by 
them,  where  it  could  not ;  working  itself  gradually  clear 
in   the  minds  of  those  who   received  it,  and  leading  to 
habits  of  thought  and  practical  arrangements  in  harmony^J 
with   itself.     If  the   reader  finds  a  true  and  intelligible 
account  of  its  various  workings,  the  object  for  which  this 
history  ought  to  be  written,  will  be  accomplished. 
Boston,  December  1,  1841. 


CONTEx\TS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LvTRODDCTORT.  —  Prcvious   State   of   Religious  Opinions   and 
Practices.  — Decline    of   Piety. -^  Preaching   of  Edwards. — 
V  "  Surprising  Conversions  "  at  Northampton,  and  in  other  Places.       1 

CHAPTER  II. 

^  Revivals  of  1730,  1740  ;  at  Newark,  Har\'ard,  Nortiiampton, 
New  Londonderry,  and  New  Brunswick.  —  Remarks  on  the 
Presbyterianism  of  that  Age.        ....  18 

CHAPTER  HI. 

WniTF.FiF.i.i)  I.N  Early  Life.  —  His  Birth,  Education,  and  Reli- 
gious Experience.  —  His  Success  as  a  Preacher.  —  His  first 
Visit  to  Georgia,  —  His  Return  to  England,  Opposition  and 
Success.  —  Controversy  wiUi  the  Bishop  of  London.  —  His 
Intercourse  with  Watts  and  Doddridge.  —  His  Return  to 
America.       .......  35 

CHAPTER  IV. 

/  Whitefield's  Labors.  —  His  Preaching  and  Success  at  Phila- 
delphia, at  New  York,  and  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  Col- 
onies. .......  51 


XVi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Parties  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  —  Different  Views  of 
Regeneration,  and  Controversies  growing  out  of  thera.  —  Acts 
of  the  Synod  in  1728,  1737,  1738,  and  17:39.  —  Meeting  of  the 
Synod  in  1740,  —  Tennent's  Nottingham  Sermon. —  Meeting 
of  the  Synod  in  1741.  —  The  « Great  Schism."       .  .  60 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Whitefield  at  the  South.  —  Scenes  at  the  Orplian  House. 
—  Visit  to  Charleston. —  Ecclesiastical  Prosecution.  —  Con- 
versions at  and  around  Charleston.  ^  Schools  for  Negroes.  — 
The  Bryans.  ......  75 

CHAPTER  VII. 

V  Whitefield's  First  Visit  to  New  England.        .  .  83 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

V  Whitefield  in  New  York,  and  at  the  South.  .  105 

CHAPTER  IX. 

^  The  Revival  in  Boston.  — The  Period  from  Whitefield's  De- 
parture to  the  Arrival  of  Davenport ;  including  the  Labors  of 
Gilbert  Tennent.    ......  114 

CHAPTER  X. 

»/    The   Revival   in    New   England.  —  Natick,   Wrentliam,   and 

Bridge  water. —  E-thorters  and  Raptures  in  Bridge  water.  120 

CHAPTER  XI. 

i  The  Revival  in  New  England.  —  Lyme,  and  other  Places  in 
that  part  of  Connecticut — The  "Needful  Caution  in  a  Critical 
Day."  —  Pastors  Itinerating.  ....  133 


CONTENTS  XVll 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Thl  Revival  im  Ntw  Engla.nd. —  PlymoutJi.  Sutton,  Taunton, 
Middleborough,  Halifax,  Portsmoutli,  Gloucester,  Reading, 
Newcastle,  Westerly,  Northampton.  .  •  .  159 

Appemu.x  TO  Ch.^ptf.k  XII.  —  ExtracLs  from  llie  Private  Journal 
of   the   Rev.   Eleazer    Wheolock. —  E.xtracts  from    the  Private 
Journal   of    the    Rev.    Ebenezer    Parkmaii,    of    Westborough, 
*         Mass.         .......  204 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Edwards.  —The  Revival  at  Enfield.  — Outcries.  Faintings,  and 
Convulsions.  ......  213 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Dave.nport. —  His  Rise,  Progress,  E.xcesses,  Recovery,  and 
"  Retractations."  —  His  Postluimous  Influence.  —  The  Eleventh 
Congregational  Church  in  Boston.  —  Note,  on  the  Catastrophe 
of  Hugh  Bryan.         ......  230 

CHAPTER  XV 

Whitefik.m)  in  England.  — Hia  Breach  with  Wesley. — The 
Revival  in  Scotland.  .....  255 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Revival  in  New  England.  —  Conventions  and  Testimo- 
nies. .......  286 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Opposition  to  the  Revival  in  Connecticut.  —  Pains  and 
Penalties.—  The  Separatists.  ....  302 


XVlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVIir. 

The  Controversy  in  Massachusetts.  —  Whitefield's  Second 
Visit  to  New  England.  —  His  subsequent  Labors  and  Death.      325 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Revival  continued  at  the  South.  —  Tiie  Presbyterian 
Synods.  —  The  Rise  of  Presbyterianism  in  Virginia.  —  White- 
field's  Labors  in  the  Soutliern  Colonies.  —  The  Healing  of  the 
« Great  Schism."      ......  372 

CHAPTER  XX. 
V     The  Results.  ......  388 


THE 


GREAT  AWAKENING. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Introductory.  —  Previous  State  of  Religious  Opinions  and  Practices. — 
Decline  of  Piety.  —  Preaching  of  Edwards. — "Surprising  Conver- 
sions "  at  Northampton,  and  in  other  places. 

The  "  Great  Awakening  of  1740"  was  not  confined  to 
that  year.  The  rehgious  movement  of  which  the  events 
of  that  year  were  a  conspicuous  parti  hegan  at  Northamp- 
ton in  1734,  and  continued  till  1742,  and  in  many  places 
even  longer.  The  immediate  occasion  of  its  connnence- 
ment  was  a  series  of  sermons  by  the  elder  Edwards,  on  the 
doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith ;  and  among  the  most 
efficient  means  of  carrying  it  on,  were  his  sermons,  proving 
that  "  every  mouth  shall  be  stopped  "  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, and  that  "nothing,  at  any  one  moment,  keeps  wicked 
men  out  of  hell,  but  the  mere  pleasure  of  God."  Edwards 
himself  testified,  that  no  discourses  had  "  been  more  re- 
markably blessed,  than  those  in  which  the  doctrine  of  God's 
absolute  sovereignty  with  regard  to  the  salvation  of  sinners, 
and  his  just  liberty  with  regard  to  answering  the  prayers,  or 
succeeding  the  pains,  of  mere  natural  men,  continuing  such," 
were  insisted  on.  These  doctrines,  when  handled  as  they 
were  by  him,  are  always  powerful  ;  but,  to  appreciate  the 
force  with  which  they  came  upon  the  hearers  then,  w^e  must 
consider  what  was  then  the  religious  state  of  New  England, 
and  of  the  world. 

In  the  early  days  of  New  England,  none  but  church 
members  could  hold  any  office,  or  vote  at  elections.  This 
1 


2  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

is  often  mentioned,  as  evidence  of  the. bigotry  and  domi- 
neering spirit  of  the  Puritans  ;  but  unjustly.  It  was  so,  and 
always  iiad  been  so,  tiiroughout  the  Christian  world, — ex- 
cept that,  in  most  cases,  rulers  were  hereditary,  and  nobody 
voted  at  all.  Throughout  Christian  Europe,  both  Ivomish 
and  Reformed,  the  practice  was,  to  baptize  all  in  infancy, 
and  to  consider  them  as  members  of  the  church,  unless  ex- 
communicated. In  childhood,  they  were  to  be  taught  cer- 
tain forms  of  faith  and  worship,  after  which  they  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  Lord's  Supper,  receiving  "confirmation" 
from  the  bishop,  where  there  were  bishops,  and  passing 
through  an  examination  in  the  creeds  and  catechisms,  where 
the  government  was  Presbyterian.  True,  the  ofliciating 
bishop  or  presbyter  might  require  of  the  catechumen  an  ex- 
perimental acquaintance  with  the  truths  of  Christianity,  and 
thus  exclude  from  the  Lord's  table  such  as  gave  no  evidence 
of  regeneration.  But  such  was  not  the  practice.  Exclusion 
from  the  Lord's  table, — that  is,  excommunication,  —  was 
attended  with  the  loss  of  certain  civil  rights,  and,  in  most 
countries,  followed  by  the  infliction  of  punishment  by  the 
civil  government.  In  England,  a  man  appointed  to  any  civil 
or  military  office  must  "  qualify,"  by  receiving  the  Lord's 
Supper  in  the  established  church  ;  and  many  received  it  to 
"qualify"  themselves  for  office,  who  neglected  it  all  the 
rest  of  their  lives.  The  clergyman  who  withheld  the  Lord's 
Supper  from  one  requesting  it,  inflicted  a  civil  injury,  and 
was  liable  to  prosecution  ;  and,  if  prosecuted,  must  show  to 
the  court  that  he  had  good  grounds  for  his  decision,  or  suf- 
fer the  consequences.  When  John  Wesley,  the  founder  of 
Methodism,  left  Georgia  to  return  to  England,  a  prosecution 
was  pending  against  him  for  debarring  a  young  lady  from  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Under  such  laws,  the  Lord's  table  must 
be  open  to  all  who  have  been  baptized,  who  have  learned 
the  creed  and  catechism,  and  have  not  committed  any  crime 
which  a  civil  court  would  judge  "  scandalous." 

Such  an  administration  of  the  ordinances  is  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration,  held  by 
the  papists,  and  incorporated  into  the  liturgy  of  the  Church 
of  England  ;  for  if  baptism  is  regeneration,  why  should  not 
all  baptized  persons,  not  excommunicated,  partake  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  ?  Where  this  doctrine  was  not  held,  as  in 
Scotland,  for  example,  its  place  might  be  supplied  by  the 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  3 

habit  of  hoping  that,  each  communicant  was  a  regenerate  per- 
son. But  in  order  to  render  sncli  liopes  possible,  it  must 
be  held  tliat  the  dilference  between  the  regenerate  and  others 
is  not  apparent  to  men  ;  that  regeneration,  ordinarily  at  least, 
produces  no  apparent  change,  of  which  the  teachers  and  ru- 
lers of  the  church  may  expect  to  6nd  evidence  by  examina- 
tion ;  and  that,  therefore,  they  must  regard  every  one  as 
regenerate,  unless  some  scandalous  oU'ence  gives  evidence  to 
the  contrary.  Ministers  thus  situated  may  preach  on  the 
necessity  of  regeneration,  atid  on  the  evidence  of  it  wliich 
every  one  ought  to  find  in  himself,  and  may  express  their 
fear  that  some  of  their  j)eople  are  not  yet  converted,  and 
urge  them  to  self-examination  ;  but  while  they  are  obliged, 
in  the  niosl  solemn  oHices  of  religion,  to  treat  every  one  as 
a  real  convert,  the  force  of  such  preaching  is  at  least  greatly 
diminished.  Unconverted  communicants  will  hope  that  they 
have  jiasscd  through  that  imperceptible  change,  will  come 
to  the  I^ord's  table,  and  even  make  their  way  into  the  minis- 
try. The  preaching  can  scarce  fail,  in  the  end,  to  copie  into 
harmony  with  the  practice. 

The  New  England  Puritans  could  walk  in  neither  of  these 
ways.  They  bi-licvrd,  that  when  a  man  is  "born  again,"  a 
change  is  wrought  in  him,  of  which  it  is  possible  for  him  and 
others  to  find  evidence  ;  that  the  regenerate  differ  from  the 
iinregenerate  by  the  possession  of  some  substantial  good 
fjtialities,  which  must  show  themselves  in  thought,  feeling  and 
conduct  ;  and  they  felt  bound  to  treat  all  as  unregenerate,  in 
whom,  on  examination,  no  evidence  of  Christian  piety  could 
be  found.  They  therefore  admitted  none  to  their  com- 
munion, except  such  as  might,  "  in  charitable  discretion," 
be  considered  regenerate  j)ersons.  The  preface  to  the  Cam- 
bridge riaiforni,  j)ublished  in  1G4S,  is  mostly  occupied  in 
vindicating  this  })ractice  against  the  objections  which  it  was 
expected  to  encounter  in  other  parts  of  the  Christian  world. 

This  system  of  administering  the  ordinances  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  whatever  is  really  characteristic  of  the  "  Ts'ew 
England  style  of  preaching,"  of  which  so  much  has  been 
said.  The  preacher  had  before  him  a  considerable  number 
of  men,  who  were  in  no  respect  regarded  or  treated  as  re- 
generate persons  ;  who  were  regarded,  both  by  the  church 
and  by  themselves,  as  unrenewed,  inipeiiitent  men,  destitute 
of  faith,  and  of  every  Christian  grace,  and  in  the  broad  road 


4  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

to  perdition.  It  was  not  merely  feared  or  believed  that  the 
congregation  contained  many  such  persons.  The  church 
records  contained  the  names  of  those  who  were  supposed  to 
be  in  the  road  to  heaven  ;  and  others  were,  by  common  con- 
sent, to  be  regarded  and  addressed  as  persons  in  the  road  to 
hell.  Impenitence,  unbelief,  enmity  to  God,  and  whatever 
other  sins  are  implied  in  these,  might  be,  and  in  Christian 
faithfulness  must  be,  charged  home  upon  hearers,  who  would 
know  themselves  to  be  the  persons  intended,  and  would  con- 
fess that  the  preacher  only  did  his  duty.  Hence  the  New 
England  habit  of  assailing  hearers,  either  with  argument  or 
entreaty,  as  men  who  are  to  be  brought  over  from  opjjosition 
to  agreement.  Nor  was  this  all.  As  their  unconverted  hear- 
ers were  destitute  of  faith,  had  no  eHicient  belief  in  the  word 
of  God,  it  was  evidently  impossible  to  subdue  them  with 
proof-texts  and  expositions  of  Scripture.  Like  Paul  preach- 
ing at  Adiens,-  they  must  draw  argumcnis  from  the  nature 
of  things,  and  from  the  consciences  of  their  hearers.  Hence 
that  "metaphysical  style,"  which  must  have  come  into  use, 
even  if  Edwards  had  never  lived.  The  manner  of  sermon- 
izing must  naturally  be  very  different  from  this,  where  the 
preacher  is  required  to  hope  well  concerning  each  of  his 
hearers,  as  a  child  of  God. 

But  the  New  England  churches  had  receded  from  their 
original  standard.  The  Synod  of  1GG2  had  decided,  that 
persons  baptized  in  infancy,  "  understanding  the  doctrine  of 
faith,  and  publicly  professing  their  assent  thereunto  ;  not  scan- 
dalous in  life,  and  solemnly  owning  the  covenant  before  the 
church,  wherein  they  give  up  themselves  and  their  children 
to  the  Lord,  and  subject  themselves  to  the  government  of 
Christ  in  the  church,  their  children  are  to  be  baptized  ;  " 
though  the  parent,  thus  owning  the  covenant,  was  avowedly 
yet  unregenerate,  and  as  such  excluded  from  the  Lord's 
Supper.  This  practice  was  immediately  adopted  by  many 
churches,  and,  after  a  violent  controversy,  became  general. 
This  was  very  naturally  followed  by  a  still  further  innova- 
tion. In  1707,  "the  venerable  Stoddard,"  of  Northamp- 
ton, published  a  sermon,  in  which  he  maintained  "  That 
sanctification  is  not  a  necessary  qualification  to  partaking  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,"  and  "  that  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  con- 
verting ordinance."  To  this,  Dr.  Increase  Mather  replied 
the  next  year  ;  and  in  1709,  Mr.   Stoddard  published  his 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  5 

*'  Appeal  to  the  Learned  ;  being  a  Vindication  of  the  Right 
of  \'isible  Saints  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  though  they  be  des- 
titute of  a  Saving  Work  of  God's  Spirit  on  their  Hearts." 
The  third  book  of  the  Appeal  contains  "  Arguments  to 
prove,  tiiat  saiiciif\ing  grace  is  not  necessary  in  order  to  a 
lawful  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper."  Mr.  Stoddard, 
in  his  sermon,  enforced  his  arguments  with  the  assertion, 
"  That  no  other  country  does  neglect  this  ordinance  as  we 
in  New  England  ;  and  that  in  our  own  nation  at  iionic,  [Eng- 
land,] so  in  Scotland,  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweedland,  Ger- 
many and  France,  they  do  generally  celebrate  the  memorials 
of  Christ's  death."  There  had  been  strong  tendencies  to- 
wards such  a  practice  for  many  years,  and  probably  some 
instances  of  its  virtual  adoption;'  but  it  now,  for  the  first 
time,  found  an  open  and  able  advocate.  It  was  strenuously 
opposed  ;  but  the  desire  lo  enjoy  the  credit  and  advantages 
of  church  mcinbershi|),  aided  by  Mr.  Stoddard's  influence, 
carried  the  day  at  Northampton,  and  the  practice  soon  spread 
extensively  in  other  parts  of  New  England. 

One  obvious  tendency  of  this  practice  was,  to  destroy 
church  discipline ;  for  unconverted  members,  generally, 
would  not  be  strict  in  calling  others  to  account  for  errors  of 
doctrine  or  practice.  IJut  Mr.  Stoddard  was  a  Presby- 
terian in  principle,  and  hoped  to  introduce  substantially  that 
mode  of  government  ;t  under  which,  he  probably  thought, 
unconverted  members  would  be  less  mischievous. 

But  this  prostration  of  discipline  was  not  the  worst  evil 
to  which  this  practice  tended.  What  must  it  teach  the 
unconverted  church  member  to  think  of  himself,  and  of  his 
prospects  for  eternity  ^  He  was,  according  to  this  doctrine, 
pursuing  the  very  course  which  (Jod  had  prescribed  for  such 
persons  as  himself:  and  believing  this,  he  could  not  think 
himself  very  deep  in  guilt,  or  very  greatly  in  danger.  Such 
a  man  could  not  feel  very  strongly  his  need  of  conversion. 

*  TnimbiiU  Btates,  that  some  in  Connecticut,  as  early  as  1657,  main- 
tained, tliat  "  parislies,  in  England,  consenting  to  and  continuing  meetings 
to  worship  God,  were  true  churches;  and  thtit  members  of  those  par- 
ishes, coming  into  New  England,  had  a  riirlit  to  all  church  privileges, 
though  they  made  no  profession  of  a  work  of  faith  and  holiness  upon  their 
hearts."     Hist.  Ct.     1  :  :il.'). 

The  Cambridge  Pbitfnrm.  Chap.  4  :  5,  expressly  denies,  that  "cohabita- 
tion,"' that  is,  dwelling  in  the  same  parish,  makes  men  members  of  the 
church. 

t  Dwights  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  3til. 
I* 


6  THE  GREAT  AWAKExMiNG. 

And  what  must  he  suppose  conversion  to  be  ?  Not  a 
change  by  whicli  a  man  begins  to  obey  God  ;  for  he  had 
ah'eady  begun  to  obey  liim,  as  he  supposed,  and  yet  was 
unconverted.  Not  a  change  righteously  required  of  liim  at 
every  moment ;  for  God  had  given  him  son)eihing  to  do 
before  conversion,  and  he  was  doing  it.  He  must  have 
thought  it  some  mysterious  benefit,  which  God  would,  in 
his  own  good  time,  bestow  on  those  for  whom  it  was  ap- 
pointed ;  but  for  the  want  of  which,  the  obedient  sinner, 
who  was  faithfully  pursuing  the  course  that  God  had  pre- 
scribed to  him,  was  rather  to  be  pitied  than  blamed.  He 
might,  on  the  authority  of  his  minister,  and  from  the  seem- 
ing force  of  argument,  believe  that  he  could  not  be  saved 
without  it  ;  but  conscience  could  not  demand  it  of  him,  as 
the  righteous  condition  of  the  favor  of  God,  and  he  could 
not  be  much  afraid  that  God  would  remove  him  from  the 
world  without  bestowing  it.  Nor  was  this  all.  Being  thus 
deceived  with  respect  to  the  very  nature  of  conversion,  all 
his  desires  and  prayers  and  labors  for  it  would  be  mis- 
directed. If  aroused  to  effort,  he  would  be  striving  after, 
and  looking  for,  and  endeavouring  to  work  himself  into, 
some  new  state  of  mind,  which  would  do  him  no  good  if 
attained.  And  here  would  be  a  fruitful  source  of  agonizing 
labor  in  vain,  and  of  strange  but  useless  changes,  unhappily 
mistaken  for  conversion. 

Stoddard,  and  many  others  who  adopted  this  practice, 
preached  the  truth  ably  and  faithfully  ;  and  their  preaching 
did  much  to  counteract  the  influence  of  their  ecclesiastical 
practice.  True,  the  doctrines  which  they  preached,  and  the 
doctrines  which  were  implied  in  their  system  of  administer- 
ing the  ordinances,  were  in  direct  contradiction  to  each 
other  ;  but  they  contrived  to  avoid  seeing  the  contradiction, 
and  lancied  that  they  believed  both.  But  in  the  end,  the 
doctrines  on  which  a  church  is  seen  to  act,  will  prevail  over 
those  which  are  only  uttered  ;  and  the  state  of  feeling  among 
the  members,  and  ultimately  the  preaching  itself,  will  con- 
form to  the  theory  on  which  the  church  is  governed  and 
the  ordinances  are  administered.  And  this  will  be  the  more 
certain,  because  the  influences  which  demand  a  certain 
mode  of  administration,  must  also  demand  a  doctrine  cor- 
responding with  it.  So  it  had  been  now.  There  had 
been  a  silent  and  gradual  increase  of  Arminianism.     Scarce 


THE  GREAT  AWAKEMNG.  7 

any  would  acknowledge  themselves  Arminians  ;  but  in  many  / 
places,  the  preaching  more  and  more  favored  the  belief,  that 
the  unconverted  niight,  without  supernatural  aid,  commence 
and  carry  on  a  scries  of  works  preparatory  to  conversion, 
and  that  those  who  were  doing  it,  were  doing  very  well, 
and  were  in  little  danger. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  that  this  system  favored  the  entrance  of 
unconverted  men  into  the  ministry.  If  one  was  fit  to  be 
a  member  of  the  church  :  if  he  was  actuallv  a  member  in 
good  standing  ;  if  he  was  living  as  God  requires  such  men 
to  hve,  and  pressing  forward,  in  the  use  of  the  appointed 
means,  after  whatever  spiritual  good  he  had  not  yet  at- 
tained ;  if  conversion  is  such  a  still  and  unobservable  matter, 
that  neither  the  candidate  nor  any  one  else  can  judge  wheth- 
er he  has  yet  passed  that  point  or  not  ;  and  if  his  mental 
qualifications  are  found  sufficient ;  why  should  he  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  ministry  ?  It  could  not  be.  The  form 
of  examining  candidates  as  to  their  piety  was  still  retained, 
but  the  spirit  of  it  was  dying  away  ;  and  though  it  was 
esteemed  improper  to  fasten  the  charge  upon  individuals  by 
name,  nobody  doubted  that  there  were  many  unconverted 
ministers.  Stoddard,  in  his  "  Appeal  to  the  Learned,"  ar- 
gued from  the  fact,  wiiich  he  took  for  granted,  that  uncon- 
verted ministers  have  certain  official  duties,  which  they  may 
lawfully  perform.  —  But  all  these  points  will  be  made  plainer 
by  the  history  which  is  to  follow. 

Many  think  that  those  who  expect  to  be  saved  by  their 
works,  will  of  course  be  very  careful  to  do  works  by  which 
they  may  expect  to  be  saved  ;  but,  except  where  a  corrupt 
clergy  has  invented  a  system  of  superstitious  observances, 
to  answer  instead  of  works  really  good,  it  happens  other- 
wise. Preparation  for  heaven  being  esteemed  a  matter 
within  their  own  control,  men  choose  their  own  time  for 
attending  to  it ;  and,  as  the  business  and  pleasures  of  this 
life  demand  present  attention,  religion  is  put  off  to  a  more 
"convenient  season."  And  then,  man's  condition  is  not 
believed  to  be  so  bad,  nor  his  escape  from  it  so  important, 
as  is  pretended  by  those  who  teach  that  he  is  wholly  ruined, 
and  entirely  dependent  on  God  for  his  recovery.  The 
concerns  of  the  soul  are  therefore  neglected,  or  receive  but 
wavering  and  intermittent  attention  ;  and  the  result  is  an 
increasing  laxity  of  morals,  without  any  diminution  of  the 
hope  of  heaven. 


8  TIIK  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Such  had  been  the  downward  progress  in  New  England. 
Revivals  had  become  less  frequent  and  powerful.  There 
were  many  in  the  churches,  and  some  even  in  the  ministry, 
who  were  yet  lingering  among  the  supposed  preliminaries  to 
conversion.  The  dillerence  between  the  church  and  the 
world  was  vanishing  away.  Church  discipline  was  neglected, 
and  the  growing  laxness  of  morals  was  invading  the  church- 
es. And  yet  never,  perhaps,  had  the  exjjectation  of  reach- 
ing heaven  at  last  been  more  general,  or  more  confident. 
Occasional  revivals  had  interrupted  this  downward  progress, 
and  the  preaching  of  sound  doctrine  iiad  retarded  it,  in  many 
places,  especially  at  Northampton  ;  but  even  there  it  had 
gone  on,  and  the  hold  of  truth  on  the  consciences  of  men 
was  sadly  diminished.  The  young  were  abandoning  them- 
selves to  frivolity,  and  to  amusements  of  dangerous  tenden- 
cy, and  party  spirit  was  producing  its  natural  fruit  of  evil 
among  the  old. 

Through  the  influence  of  Edwards,  there  was  a  gradual 
amendment.  More  decency  of  demeanor  and  teachable- 
ness of  spirit  became  apparent  among  the  youth,  and  par- 
ents showed  a  more  suitable  care  for  the  moral  and  spiritual 
good  of  their  children.  Some  unseemly  and  unsafe  habits 
were  abandoned,  some  instances  of  conversion  occurred, 
and  several  associations  for  religious  improvement  were 
formed. 

And  now  the  progress  of  Arminianism  had  become  so 
manifest  as  to  cause  alarm.  Its  growth  had  been  imper- 
ceptible and  unacknowledged  ;  and  even  at  this  time  the  charge 
was  generally  repelled  as  a  slander.  Its  advocates  said 
they  were  only  explaining  some  of  the  doctrines  of  Cal- 
vinism more  rationally  than  had  formerly  been  done,  so  as 
to  avoid  certain  difficulties  with  which  the  truth  had  been 
encumbered.  This  was  natural ;  for  there  was  then  a  hor- 
ror of  Arminianism,  such  as  it  is  difficult  now  to  under- 
stand. jNIen  had  not  then  forgotten  the  tremendous  evils 
that  had  grown  out  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  works. 
They  remembered,  that  under  its  influence  men  had  ceased 
to  trust  in  Christ  for  salvation,  and  had  learned  to  trust  in  the 
merits  of  penances  and  offerings  prescribed  by  the  priests. 
The  history  of  popery  had  taught  them,  that  the  doctrine  of 
salvation  by  works  makes  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
slaves  of  the  priesthood  ;  for,  as  they  must  learn  from  the 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 


priests  what  works  will  save  tliem,  they  are  made  to  believe 
that  they  must  do  what  the  priests  prescribe,  or  perish  ever- 
lastingly.    The  same  history  had  taught,  that  when  a  priest- 
hood attains  such  power,  bad  men  will  press  into  it,  and  it 
will  soon   become   corrupt  and  anti-christian.     Hence  one 
argument    almost    constantly    used    against    Arminianism    in 
those  days  was,  its  tendency  to  prepare  the  way  Ibr  popery. 
Hence  John  Wesley,  for  preaching  Arminianism,  was  even 
accused  of  being  a  Jesuit  in    disguise.     And  ilie  men  of 
Uiat   age   could   not   regard   popery  as   it   is   now   regarded. 
1  opery   then  never   asked  for   toleration,    or   talked   of  the 
equal  religious   rights  of  different  sects.      It   demanded  and 
sought  to  enforce  universal  submission  to  the  triple  crown. 
(ivvat  Ikitain  had  just  expelled  a  secretly  popish  monarch! 
and  his  heir,  the  "  Pretender,"  was  seeking,  in  alliance  with 
!•  ranee  and  other  popish   powers,  to   regain   the  throne  by 
force  of  arms.     Victims  of  popish  intolerance,  driven  from 
I'nince  by  the  persecutions  which  followed  the  revocation 
of  the  edict  of  Xantcs,  were  si  ill  living  in   everv  protestant 
country.      The    frontier   settlements   of  Xew  Kngland   were 
not  yet  safe  from  the  tomahawks  of  savages,  instigated  and 
accompanied    by    French    Jesuits    from    Canada;    nor    had 
h  ranee  yet  abandoned  the  hope  of  adding  these  prostestant 
colonies   to  her  empire,  and  to  the  domain  of  the  Romish 
church.      The  atrocities  which  every  man  remembered,  and 
the  dangers  which  hung  over  every  man's  head,  taught  all  to 
regard  popery  as  a  false,  tyrannical    and  murderous  system, 
destroying   the   bodies   of  its  enemies  and   the  souls  of  its 
friends.      The  safety  of  every  thing  valuable,  either  in  this 
world  or  the  world  to  come,  was  felt  to  depend  on  the  unim- 
paired maintenance    of  the  doctrines  of  the   Reformation. 
The  question,  therefore,  whether  some  were  departing  from 
that  lailh,  was  one  of  deep  interest.      Men  were  unwilling  to 
believe,  that  their  newly-invented  explanations  were  an  aban- 
donment of  the  faith  they  attempted  to  explain.     Not  only 
were  the  pious  alarmed,  but,  Edwards  informs  us,  "  ^rany, 
who   looked   on   themselves    as   in    a    Christless    condition, 
seemed  to  be  awakened  by  it,  with  fear  that  God  was  about 
to  withdraw  from  the  land,  and  that  we  should  be  given  up 
to  heterodoxy  and  corrupt  principles  ;  and  that  then  their  op- 
portunity for  obtaining  salvation  would  be  past ;  and  many, 
who  were   brought  a  little  to  doubt   about  the  truth  of  the 


10  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

doctrines  they  had  hitherto  been  taught,  seemed  to  have  a 
kind  of  a  ti'embhng  fear  with  the  doubts,  lest  they  should  be 
led  into  by-paths,  to  their  eternal  undoing  ;  and  they  seemed 
with  much  concern  and  engagedness  to  inquire,  what  w^as 
indeed  the  way  in  which  they  must  come  to  be  accepted  of 
God." 

This  state  of  mind  Edwards  determined  to  meet,  by 
preaching  fully  on  those  points  on  which  the  controversy 
turned.  Influential  friends  endeavoured  to  dissuade  him 
from  the  attempt ;  much  fault  was  found  with  his  introducing 
such  matters  of  controversy  into  the  pulpit,  and  the  whole 
proceeding  was  ridiculed,  both  at  Northampton  and  else- 
where. But  it  was  no  proof  of  arrogance  in  him,  to  be  con- 
scious that  he  understood  the  crisis,  and  the  subject,  and 
was  able  to  say  things  that  his  people  needed  to  hear.  He 
commenced  his  series  of  discourses  on  "  Justification  by 
Faith  alone,"  that  article  with  which,  as  Luther  declared,  a 
church  stands  or  falls.  The  effect  of  these  discourses  was, 
first,  to  make  men  feel  that  now  they  understood  the  subject, 
and  had  hold  of  the  truth  ;  and  next,  to  sweep  away  entirely 
all  those  hopes  of  heaven  which  they  had  built  upon  their  own 
doings,  —  upon  their  morality,  their  owning  the  covenant, 
partaking  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  using  any  other  means  of 
grace.  They  were  made  to  see,  that  God  has  not  appointed 
any  thing  for  men  to  do  before  coming  to  Christ  by  faith ; 
that  all  their  previous  works  are  unacceptable  in  his  sight, 
and  lay  him  under  no  obligation,  either  on, account  of  their 
worthiness  or  his  promise,  to  grant  them  any  spiritual  favor. 
These  discourses  were  followed  by  others,  in  which  he 
taught  "  God's  absolute  sovereignty  in  regard  to  the  salva- 
tion of  sinners,  and  his  just  liberty  with  regard  to  answering 
the  prayers  or  succeeding  the  pains  of  mere  natural  men, 
continuing  such."  That  idea,  of  "  God's  just  liberty,"  is 
an  idea  of  tremendous  power.  It  includes  all  that  is  meant 
by  the  doctrine  of  election,  and  expresses  it  most  philo- 
sophically, unincumbered  with  forms  of  speech  derived  from 
human  ideas  of  time.  God  is  at  liberty  with  respect  to 
bestowing  salvation.  His  liberty  is  perfect.  Nothing  that 
the  "natural  man"  has  done,  or  can  do,  while  "continuing 
such,"  in  any  way  impairs  that  liberty,  or  binds  God  to  a 
favorable  decision.  And  this  his  liberty  is  "just."  It  is 
right  that  it  should  be  so.     Sinners  have  merited  and  now 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  H 

deserve  instant  damnation ;  and  God's  liberty  to  inflict  it 
upon  them  now,  or  defer  it  for  the  present,  or  save  tliem 
from  it  wholly,  according  to  his  own  pleasure,  is  a  most 
"just  liberty."  When  the  sinner  sees  and  feels  this  doc- 
trine to  be  true,  he  knows  that  no  course  remains  for  him, 
but  to  call  upon  God  for  mercy  ;  and  he  knows  that  when 
he  calls  upon  God,  there  is  nothing  in  his  prayers  that  at  all 
impairs  God's  "just  liberty"  with  respect  to  hearing  him, 
and  that  he  has  nothing  to  depend  upon,  as  a  ground  of  hope 
that  he  shall  be  heard,  but  the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ.  He 
can  make  no  appeal  to  the  justice  of  God,  for  that  only  con- 
demns him  ;  nor  to  any  other  attribute  but  mercy,  which,  in 
its  very  nature,  is  free,  and  not  constrained.  And  he  can 
find  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  God  is  disposed  to  be 
merciful  to  sinners,  but  in  the  fact  that  he  has  given  his  Son 
to  die  for  them.  Here  is  his  only  ground  of  hope.  Here 
he  must  present  and  urge  his  prayer,  knowing  that  he  de- 
serves to  be  rejected,  and  knowing  that  nothing  of  his  own, 
not  even  his  prayer,  diminishes  God's  "just  liberty,"  to 
receive  or  reject  him  according  to  his  good  pleasure.  And 
this  is  the  point  to  which  he  needs  to  be  brought.  This  is 
the  dependence  which  he  needs  to  feel,  and  feehng  which 
will  drive  him  to  God  in  prayer. 

But  will  not  the  cutting  off  of  his  hopes  drive  him  to  de- 
spair, and  make  him  reckless  ?  It  would,  but  for  the  doc- 
trine of  "Justification  by  Faith,"  which  encourages  him 
who  has  no  good  works,  to  trust  in  "  Him  that  justifieth  the 
ungodly."  It  teaches  the  sinner  that,  in  being  destitute  of 
all  claim  to  acceptance  with  God,  and  dependent  on  his 
mere  mercy,  he  is  only  like  all  others  who  have  been  saved 
through  Christ,  and  therefore  need  not  despair.  It  teaches 
him  that  the^e  is  in  God  an  overflowing  goodness,  which 
reaches  even  to  the  salvation  of  those  who  have  no  claim 
to  be  saved  ;  and  it  encourages  him  to  trust  in  that  goodness. 
It  teaches  him  to  resign  himself  to  the  disposal  of  God, 
sensible  of  God's  "just  liberty,"  and  not  knowing  first  what 
God  will  do  with  him  ;  but  encouraged  by  the  goodness  of 
God  as  shown  in  the  death  of  his  Son,  to  hope  for  accept- 
ance and  salvation.  And  this  is  faith  ;  and  faith  "works  by 
love,"  and  transforms  the  whole  character. 

There  was,  then,  in  1734,  at  Northampton  and  generally 
in  New  England,  a  special  need  of  such  sermons  as  Edwards 


12  THE  GREAT  AWAKENLNG. 

preached  ;  a  special  fitness  in  those  sermons,  to  produce  the 
effects  which  followed  them. 

It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  December,  1734,  as  Edwards 
informs  us,*  that  "the  Spirit  of  God  began  extraordinarily 
to  set  in  and  wonderfully  to  \vork  among  us ;  and  there 
were  very  suddenly,  one  after  anotiier,  five  or  six  persons, 
who  were,  to  all  appearance,  savingly  converted,  and  some 
of  them  wrought  upon  in  a  very  remarkable  manner." 

One  of  these  converts  was  a  young  woman  who  had  been 
notorious  as  a  leader  in  scenes  of  gayety  and  rustic  dissipa- 
tion. Edwards  was  surprised  at  the  account  which  she  gave 
of  her  religious  exercises,  of  which  he  had  heard  no  report 
till  she  came  to  converse  with  him,  apparently  humble  and 
penitent.  He  at  first  feared  that  the  appearance  of  the  work 
of  conversion  in  a  person  of  such  a  character  would  give  it 
a  bad  name,  and  excite  prejudices  which  would  hinder  its 
progress  ;  "  but  the  event  was  the  reverse,  to  a  wonderful 
degree. — The  news  of  it  seemed  to  be  like  a  flash  of 
lightning  upon  the  hearts  of  the  young  people,  all  over  the 
town,  and  upon  many  others.  — Many  went  to  talk  with  her 
concerning  what  she  had  met  with  ;  and  what  appeared  in 
her  seemed  to  be  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  that  did  so."  The 
consciences  of  men  were  constrained  to  acknowledge  the 
goodness  of  the  power  which  had  wrought  such  a  change,  in 
such  a  person.  "  Presently  upon  this,  a  great  and  earnest 
concern  about  the  great  things  of  religion  and  the  eternal 
world,  became  universal  in  all  parts  of  the  town,  and  among 
persons  of  all  degrees  and  all  ages  ;  the  noise  among  the  dry 
bones  waxed  louder  and  louder  ;  all  other  talk  but  about 
spiritual  and  eternal  things,  was  soon  thrown  by.  —  The 
minds  of  people  were  wonderfully  taken  off  from  the  world  ; 
j  it  was  treated  among  us  as  a  thing  of  very  little  consequence. 
They  seemed  to  follow  their  worldly  business  more  as  a 
part  of  their  duty,  than  from  any  disposition  they  had  to 
it.  —  It  was  then  a  dreadful  thing  amongst  us  to  lie  out  of 
Christ,  in  danger  every  day  of  dropping  into  hell  ;  and  what 
persons'  minds  were  intent  upon  was,  to  escape  for  their 
lives,  and  to  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come.  All  would  eager- 
ly lay  hold  of  opportunities  for  their  souls,  and  were  wont 
very  often  to  meet  together  in  private  houses  for  religious 

*  Narrative  of  Surprising  Conversions. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  13 

purposes  ;  and  such  meetings,  when  appointed,  were  wont 
greatly  to  he  thronged.  —  And  tlie  work  of  conversion  was 
carried  on  in  a  most  astonishing  manner,  and  increased  more 
and  more.  f?ouls  did,  as  it  were,  come  hy  Hocks  to  Jesus 
Christ.  From  day  to  day,  for  many  months  together,  might  / 
be  seen  evident  instances  of  sinners  brought  out  of  darkness 
into  marvellous  light. — Our  public  assemblies  were  then, 
beautiful  ;  the  congregation  was  alive  in  God's  service,  every 
one  earnestly  intent  on  the  public  worship,  every  liearer 
eager  to  drink  in  the  words  of  the  minister  as  they  came 
from  his  mouth.  The  assembly  in  general  were,  from  time 
to  time,  in  tears  while  the  word  was  preached  ;  some  weep- 
ing with  sorrow  and  distress,  others  with  joy  and  love,  others 
with  pity  and  concern  for  the  souls  of  their  neighbours. 
—  Those  amongst  us  that  had  formerly  been  converted, 
were  greatly  enlivened  and  renewed  with  fresh  and  extraor- 
dinary incomes  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  though  some  much 
more  than  others,  according  to  the  measure  of  the  gift  of 
Christ.  Many  that  had  before  labored  under  difficulties 
about  their  own  state,  had  now  their  doubts  removed  by 
more  satisfying  experience,  and  more  clear  discoveries  of 
God's  love." 

The  report  of  the  state  of  things  at  Northampton  spread 
into  other  towns,  where  many  "  seemed  not  to  know  what  to 
make  of  it,"  many  ridiculed  it,  "and  some  compared  what  we 
called  conversion,  to  certain  distempers."  Great  numbers, 
however,  who  came  to  Northampton  and  saw  for  themselves, 
were  differently  affected,  and  not  a  few  of  them,  from  various 
places,  were  awakened  and  apparently  brought  to  repentance. 
In  March,  1735,  the  revival  began  to  be  general  in  South 
Hadley,  and  about  the  same  time  in  Suffield.  It  next  ap- 
peared in  Sunderland,  Deerfield,  and  Hatfield  ;  and  after- 
wards at  West  Springfield,  Long  Meadow,  and  Enfield  ;  and 
then  in  Hadley  Old  Town,  and  in  Northfield.  In  Con- 
necticut, the  work  commenced  in  the  First  Parish  in  Wind- 
sor, about  the  same  time  as  at  Northampton.  It  was  re- 
markable at  East  Windsor,  and  "  wonderful  "  at  Coventry. 
Similar  scenes  were  witnessed  at  Lebanon,  Durham,  Strat- 
ford, Ripton,  New  Haven,  Guilford,  Mansfield,  Tolland, 
Hebron,  Bolton,  Preston,  Groton,  and  Woodbury.  And 
about  the  same  time  there  was  an  awakening  in  New  Jersey,  » 
principally  in  connexion  with  the  labors  of  William  and  Gil- 
2 


14  THE  GREAT  AWAKE:NING. 

Dert  Tenncnt,  of  which  a  more  particular  account  will  be 
given  in  anoiiier  place. 

Edwards  hojjcd  tiuit  more  than  three  hundred  were  con- 
verted in  Northamjnon  in  half  a  year.  They  were  of  all 
ages,  from  the  child  of  four  years  old  to  the  man  of  seventy. 
He  received  about  a  hundred  to  the  connnunion  of  the 
church  before  one  sacramental  season.  Eighty  of  them  were 
received  at  one  lime,  "  whose  appearance,  when  tliey  pre- 
sented themselves  together  to  make  an  open,  explicit  pro- 
fession of  Christianity,  was  very  affecting  to  the  con- 
gregation." And  no  wonder  ;  for  all  understood  that  in 
their  case  the  transaction  had  a  very  solenm  meaning.  It 
was  the  effect  and  avowal  of  their  conversion.  Near  sixtv 
more  were  received  before  the  next  sacrament.  Notwith- 
standing the  plan  on  which  persons  were  here  admitted  to 
the  church,  the  pastor  thought  he  had  "  very  sufficient  evi- 
dence of  the  conversion  "  of  those  who  were  now  added  to 
"its  numbers. 

The  account  which  Edwards  gives  of  the  character  of 
these  conversions  is  highly  interesting  and  instructive,  but 
cannot  be  transferred  to  this  history.  One  characteristic, 
however,  is  too  important  to  be  passed  without  remark.  It 
would  seem  that  in  every  case,  the  happy  change  came  upon 
the  sinner's  mind,  instead  of  being  wrought  by  him.  In  no 
case,  it  seems,  did  the  sinner  fust  form  to  hmiself  an  idea  of 
some  volition  to  be  put  forth  by  himself,  and  then,  by  direct 
effort,  put  it  forth,  and  thus  become  a  convert.      He  says  ; 

"  In  those  in  whom  awakenings  seem  to  have  a  saving 
issue,  commonly  the  first  thing  that  appears  after  their  legal 
troubles  is,  a  conviction  of  the  justice  of  God  in  their  con- 
demnation, a  sense  of  their  own  exceeding  sinfulness,  and 
the  vileness  of  all  their  performances.  In  giving  an  account 
of  this,  they  expressed  themselves  very  variously  ;  some, 
that  they  saw  that  God  was  a  sovereign,  and  might  receive 
others  and  reject  them  ;  some,  that  they  were  convinced 
that  God  might  justly  bestow  mercy  on  every  person  in  the 
town,  and  on  every  person  in  the  world,  and  damn  them- 
selves to  all  eternity  ;  some,  that  they  see  that  God  may 
justly  have  no  regard  to  all  the  pains  they  have  taken,  and 
all  the  prayers  they  have  made  ;  some,  that  they  see,  that  if 
they  should  seek,  and  take  the  utmost  pains,  all  their  lives, 
God  might  justly  cast  them  into  hell  at  last,  because  all  their 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  15 

labors,  prayers  and  tears  cannot  make  atonement  for  the 
least  sin,  nor  merit  any  blessing  at  the  hand  of  God  ;  some 
have  declared  themselves  to  be  in  the  hands  of  God,  that  he 
can  and  may  dispose  of  them  just  as  he  pleases  ;  some,  that 
God  may  glorify  himself  in  their  danmaiion,  and  they  won- 
der that  God  has  sufiered  them  to  live  so  long,  and  has  not 
cast  them  into  hell  long  ago. 

"Commonly,  persons'  minds,  immediately  before  this  dis- 
covery of  God's  justice,  are  exceeding  restless,  and  in  a 
kind  of  struggle  and  tumult,  and  sometimes  in  mere  anguish  ; 
but  generally,  as  soon  as  they  have  this  conviction,  it  inmie- 
diately  brings  their  minds  to  a  calm,  and  a  before  unex- 
pected (juietness  and  composure ;  and  most  frequently, 
though  not  always,  then  the  pressing  weight  upon  their  spir- 
its is  taken  away,  and  a  general  hope  arises  that  some  time 
or  other  God  will  be  gracious,  even  before  any  distinct  and 
particular  discoveries  of  mercy  ;  and  often  they  then  come  to 
a  conclusion  within  themselves,  that  they  will  lie  at  God's  feet, 
and  wait  his  time  ;  and  they  rest  in  that,  not  being  sensible 
tiiat  the  iSpiril  of  (Jud  has  now  brought  them  to  a  frame 
whereby  they  aie  prepared  for  mercy  ;  for  it  is  remarkable 
that  persons,  when  they  first  have  this  sense  of  God's  jus- 
tice, rarely,  in  the  time  of  it,  think  any  thing  of  its  being  that 
humiliation  that  they  have  often  heard  insisted  on,  and  that 
others  experience." 

In  some  cases,  their  "  sense  of  the  excellency  of  God's 
justice  "  in  their  condemnation,  and  their  aj)probation  of  it, 
was  such  that  they  "almost  callcvl  it  a  willingness  to  be 
damned."  But  l-^dwards  thought  that  this  language  must  have 
been  used  without  any  clear  idea  of  its  import,  and  must 
have  meant  oidy  that  "salvation  appeared  too  good  for 
them,"  and  that  the  glory  of  God's  justice  ought  not  to  be 
sacrificed  for  their  sakes.      He  jjroceeds  : 

"  That  calm  of  spirit  that  some  persons  have  found  after 
their  legal  distresses,  continues  some  time  before  any  special 
and  delightful  manifestation  is  made  to  the  soul,  of  the  grace 
of  God,  as  revealed  in  the  Gospel  ;  but  very  often  some  com- 
fortable and  sweet  view  of  a  merciful  God,  of  a  sufficient 
Redeemer,  or  of  some  great  and  joyful  things  of  the  Gospel, 
immediately  follows,  or  ih  a  very  little  time  ;  and  in  some, 
the  first  sight  of  their  just  desert  of  hell,  and  (!od's  sover- 
eignty with  respect  to  their  salvation,  and  a  discovery  of  all- 


16  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

suflicient  grace,  are  so  near,  that  they  seem  to  go  as  it  were 
together. 

"  It  has  more  frequently  been  so  amongst  us,  that  when 
persons  have  first  had  the  gospel  ground  of  relief  for  lost  sin- 
ners discovered  to  them,  and  have  been  entertaining  their 
minds  with  the  sweet  prospect,  they  have  thought  notliing  at 
that  time  of  their  being  converted.  To  see  that  there  is 
such  an  all-sufliciency  in  God,  and  such  plentiful  provision 
made  in  Christ,  after  they  have  been  borne  down  and  sunk 
with  a  sense  of  their  guilt  and  fears  of  wrath,  exceedingly 
refreshes  them.  The  view  is  joyful  to  them,  as  it  is  in  its 
own  nature  glorious,  and  gives  them  quite  new  and  more  de- 
lightful ideas  of  God  and  Christ,  and  greatly  encourages 
them  to  seek  conversion,  and  begets  in  them  a  strong  reso- 
lution to  give  up  themselves,  and  devote  their  whole  lives  to 
God  and  his  Son,  and  patiently  to  wait  till  God  shall  see  fit 
to  make  all  effectual ;  and  very  often  they  entertain  a  strong 
persuasion,  that  he  will  in  his  own  time  do  it  for  ihem. 

"There  is  wrought  in  them  a  holy  repose  of  soul  in  God 
through  Christ,  and  a  secret  disposition  to  fear  and  love  him, 
and  to  hope  for  blessings  from  him  in  this  way.  And  yet 
they  have  no  imagination  that  they  are  now  converted  ;  it 
does  not  so  much  as  come  into  their  minds  ;  and  very  often 
the  reason  is,  that  they  do  not  see  that  they  do  accept  of  this 
sufficiency  of  salvation  that  they  behold  in  Christ,  having 
entertained  a  wrong  notion  of  acceptance,  not  being  sensible 
that  the  obedient  and  joyful  entertainment  which  their  hearts 
give  to  this  discovery  of  grace,  is  a  real  acceptance  of  it. 
They  know  not  that  the  sweet  complacence  they  feel  in  the 
mercy  and  complete  salvation  of  God,  as  it  includes  pardon 
and  sanctification,  and  is  held  forth  to  them  only  through 
Christ,  is  a  true  receiving  of  this  mercy,  or  a  plain  evidence 
of  their  receiving  it.  They  expected,  I  know  not  what  kind 
of  act  of  the  soul,  and  perhaps  they  had  no  distinct  idea  of  it 
themselves." 

Edwards  informs  us,  that  many  were  prejudiced  against 
this  revival,  by  false  reports  concerning  impressions  on 
men's  imaginations.  He  did  not  suppose  that  any  of  the 
converts  "  imagined  that  they  saw  any  thing  with  their  bodily 
eyes,"  but  only  that  their  ideas  of  the  torments  of  hell,  the 
glories  of  heaven,  or  the  dying  love  of  Christ,  or  the  like, 
excited   "lively  pictures    in    their    minds."     In   a   few  in- 


\ 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 


Stances,  he  was  unable  to  account  for  the  phenomena  on 
natural  principles ;  but  he  was  not  convinced  that  there  was 
any  thing  supernatural  in  them,  and  he  fully  believed  and 
taught  his  people,  that  such  things  deserved  no  confidence, 
as  evidences  of  conversion. 

These  misrepresentations  were  to  be  expected.  As  we 
have  seen,  there  were  many  in  the  churches,  and  some  doubt- 
less in  the  ministry,  who  had  no  personal  acquaintance  with 
such  religion  as  then  prevailed  at  Northampton.  This  was 
a  way  to  heaven  that  they  had  not  learned,  and  in  which 
they  were  not  walking.  If  this  was  true  doctrine  and  true 
religion,  their  own  hopes  were  delusive,  and  their  souls  in 
danger  of  perdition.  They  must  of  necessity  think  ill, 
either  of  the  work  at  Northampton,  or  of  the  religion  which 
they  professed,  and  perhaps  taught.  It  was  inevitable,  there- 
fore, human  nature  being  what  it  is,  that  evidence  should  be 
sought  and  found  against  the  work  at  Northampton  ;  that  all 
real  faults  should  be  gathered  up  and  reported  ;  that  a  bad 
interpretation  should  be  put  upon  every  thing  that  the  hearer 
or  beholder  could  not  understand  ;  and  that  every  evil  report 
should  be  exaggerated,  till  the  sum  total  met  the  wishes  of 
those  who  were  anxious  to  condemn  the  work,  lest  the  work 
should  condemn  them.  We  shall  find  the  same  principle  in 
vigorous  operation,  and  on  a  larger  scale,  and  with  more 
permanent  results,  in  following  years. 

About  the  close  of  >Iav.  !~:^i,  the  work  began  sensibly 
to  decline.  It  is  usually,  and  truly,  assigned  as  one  reason 
for  such  declensions,  that  the  physical  power  to  endure  ex- 
citement is  exhausted,  and  the  nerves  irresistibly  seek  re- 
pose. In  the  case  before  us,  too,  it  is  probable  that  nearly 
every  person  old  enough  to  understand  preaching  had  been 
excited,  had  been  made  to  consider  his  ways,  and  had  de- 
cided upon  his  course,  at  least  for  the  present.  Many  had 
found  peace  in  believing,  and  the  rest  had  chosen  a  return  to 
stupidity,  and  had  their  choice.  New  subjects  were  no 
longer  to  be  found,  by  the  report  of  whose  awakening  ex- 
citement could  be  sustained.  And  several  events,  the  most 
important  of  which  was  the  controversy  that  grew  out  of  the 
settlement  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Breck  at  Springfield,  diverted 
the  minds  of  men  to  other  subjects.  Still,  for  months  after 
the  decline  began,  there  were  occasional  instances  of  con- 
version, and  of  revival  of  feeling  among  the  pious  ;  and  as 
2* 


18  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

late  as  the  close  of  173G,  the  work  still  continued  in  some 
places  in  Connecticut. 

This  awakening  excited  a  lively  interest  among  the  friends 
of  vital  piety  at  a  distance.  Dr.  Colman,  of  Boston,  wrote 
to  Mr.  Kdwards  for  an  account  of  it.  Having  obtained  an 
answer,  he  pubhshed  it,  and  forwarded  it  to  Dr.  Wails  and 
Dr.  Guise  in  London.  They  told  the  good  news  in  con- 
versation, and  at  public  religious  assemblies.  A  recpiest  for 
a  more  complete  account  drew  forth  a  leller  from  Mr.  Ed- 
wards to  ])r.  Colman,  dated  November  Gih,  1736,  \\hich 
was  published  in  London,  under  the  title  of  "  Narrative  of 
Surprising  Conversions,"  with  an  introduction  by  Drs.  Watts 
and  Guise.  It  was  circulated  extensively,  and  with  good 
effect,  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  where  it  gave  many 
ministers  and  churches  new  views  of  what  might  be  expected 
and  should  be  sought,  even  in  these  latter  days.  In  1738, 
it  was  republished  in  Boston,  wiih  several  of  the  sermons 
which  had  been  most  useful  in  promoting  the  work,  and 
commended  to  the  public  by  four  of  the  oldest  ministers  of 
the  town.  It  has  since  been  published  in  his  collected 
"  Works,"  and  should  be  attentively  studied  by  every  one, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  understand  the  workings  of  the  human 
mind  under  the  convicting  and  converting  inHuences  of  the 
Spirit  of  God. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Revivals  of  1739,  1740;  at  Newark,  Harvard,  Northampton,  New  Lon- 
donderry, and  New  Brunswick.  —  Remarks  on  the  Presbyterianisra  of 
that  age. 

The  excitement  of  1734  had  passed  away,  but  its  effects 
remained.  The  churches  which  it  had  visited,  were  strong- 
er, both  in  numbers  and  in  piety.  The  morals  of  those 
towns  were  decidedly  improved.  More  definite  and  correct 
views  extensively  prevailed,  of  the  difference  between  a  real 
and  a  nominal  Christian,  and  of  the  great  change  by  which 
that  difference  is  produced.  Extensively,  the  pious  in  other 
places  had  learned  to  regard  awakenings  like  that  at  North- 
ampton, as  events  to  be  desired,  prayed   for,  and  expected  ; 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  19 

and  ihis  expectation  had  been  kept  alive  by  tlieir  occasional 
occurrence,  in  single  parishes,  in  dillerent  j)arts  of  the  coun- 
try. In  1739,  such  instances  began  to  multiply,  and  to  grow 
conspicuous.  The  specimens  which  follow,  will  show  their 
character. 

XEW.VRK,  N.  J. 

Newark  was  originally  a  colony  from  New  England,  and 
must  have  retained  much  of  the  primitive  New  England 
feeling  concerning  the  distinction  between  the  church  and  the 
world.*  In  practice,  however,  that  distinction  aj)|)ears  to 
have  been  lamentably  obscured.  In  the  words  of  the  Rev. 
Jonathan  Dickenson,  then  pastor  of  the  church  in  Elizabeth- 

"  Newark  was  settled  in  inn7  or  lfi08,  by  about  thirty  families  from 
Branford,  Ct.  with  thi-ir  minister,  the  Rev.  Mr.  I'iorson.  l'rof»ssor 
Hodije,  of  I'rinceton,  in  his  e.xcrlleiit  '•  Constitutional  llist'-rv  of  tite  Pres- 
byterian Church,"  rctmrks,  that  a  jjrirt  of  Uie  New  Enijland  I'uritans  were 
Conirregationaiists,  and  a  part  Presbyterians;  and  qunles  a  tradition,  pre- 
served in  a  manuscript  '•  History  of  Newark,"  by  Dr.  McW'iiorter,  to 
prove  that  the  first  settlers  of  Newark  were  Presb)  terians.  It  may  not  be 
to  the  purpose,  here,  to  refer  to  the  notorious  fact,  that  all  who  held  the 
validity  of  ordination  by  presbyters,  in  opposition  to  diocesan  episcopacy, 
were  torinerly  called  Presbyterians,  and  that  the  name  itself  was  derived 
from  that  peculiarity;  but  it  is  iinporlant  to  reinembcr  that  no  part  of  the 
New  Entrland  Puritans  wito  Presbyterians  in  the  iiiniJcrn  sense  of  llial 
word.     None  of  them   held  that  sinirle  churches  siiould  be   Governed  by 

Eresbyteries  composed  of  several  churches  and  their  pastors.  Both  parties 
eld,  perhaps  with  equal  tenacity,  the  entire  ecclesiastical  independence  of 
every  ''congregation  of  faithful  men,"  duly  associated  as  a  church.  The 
difference  was  this.  The  Presbyterians  of  New  England  held  that  each 
church  should  be  governed  by  its  own  presbytery  ;  that  is,  by  its  pastor 
and  teaching  and  ruling  elders  ;  wliile  the  Congregationalists  held  that 
every  adult  male  communicant  should  take  part  directly  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  church.  [See  President  Styles's  sermon  of"  Christian  Union," 
and  the  authorities  there  quoted.]  In  this  sense,  the  first  settlers  of  New- 
ark may  have  been  Presbyterians;  thoutrli  there  is  strong  reason  to  doubt 
it.  The  Rev.  Philemon  Robbins,  in  his  "  Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
New  Haven  Association,"  preserved  in  the  Old  South  Church  Library,  has 
quoted  from  the  town  records  of  Branford,  a  preamble  and  resolutions 
adopted  January  20th,  lt)(j7,  in  view  of  the  emigration  to  Newark,  from 
which  it  appears  that  Branfird  was  settled  "  by  men  of  Congregational 
principles  "  according  to  the  Cambridge  platform,  and  that  those  who  did 
not  emigrate,  resolved  to  adhere  to  that  system.  If  the  emigrating  party 
removed,  as  stated  by  Professor  Hodge,  because  they  were  "  dissatisfied 
with  the  union  between  the  colonies  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut," 
they  must  have  been  Congregationalists  "of  the  straitest  sect;  "  for  the 
opposition  to  that  union  was  raised  mainly  in  defence  of  pure  Congrega- 
tionalism. Davenport,  of  New  Haven,  was  at  its  head  ;  and  the  defence  of 
the  colony  against  the  claims  of  Connecticut  was  for  a  time  intrusted  to  the 
discretionary  management  of  the  magistrates  of  New  Haven  and  Bran- 
ford.    [See  Bacon's  "  Historical  Discourses."] 


20  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

town,  —  "Religion  was  in  a  very  low  slate,  professors 
generally  dead  and  lifeless,  and  the  body  of  our  people  care- 
less, carnal  and  secure.  There  was  but  little  of  the  power 
of  godliness  apjjcaring  among  us,  till  some  time  in  August, 
1739,  (the  summer  before  .Sir.  Whitefield  came  first  into 
these  pans,)  when  there  was  a  remarkuble  revival  at  New- 
ark, especially  among  the  rising  generation.  —  This  concern 
increased  for  a  considerable  time  among  the  young  people, 
though  not  wholly  confined  to  them  ;  and  in  November, 
December  and  January  following,  it  became  mort^  remark- 
able, as  well  as  more  general. —  This  revival  of  religion 
was  chiefly  observable  among  the  younger  peoj)le,  till  the 
following  March,  when  the  whole  town  in  general  was 
brought  under  an  uncommon  concern  about  their  eternal  in- 
terests, and  the  congregation  appeared  universally  afi'ected 
under  some  sermons  that  were  then  preached  to  them  ;  and 
there  is  good  reason  to  conclude,  that  there  was  a  consider- 
able number  who  experienced  a  saving  change  about  that 
time.  The  summer  following,  this  awakening  concern  sen- 
sibly abated,  though  it  did  not  wholly  die  away  ;  and  nothing 
remarkable  occurred  till  February,  1^'41,  when  they  were 
again  visited  with  the  special  and  manifest  effusions  of  the 
Spirit  of  God."* 

HARVARD,  MASS. 

The  Rev.  John  Seccomb  wrote,  February  20,  1744,  after 
there  had  been  time  to  test  the  genuineness  of  the  revival  : 

"  The  first  visible  alteration  among  my  people  for  the 
better,  was  some  time  in  the  month  of  September,  in  the 
,year  1739,  when  several  began  to  grow  more  thoughtful  and 
serious,  and  somewhat  reformed  ;  more  constant  and  diligent 
in  attending  the  public  worship,  more  attentive  in  hearing  the 
word  preached,  more  careful  to  sanctify  the  Sabbath,  &c. 

"  Not  long  after  this,  came  four  young  men  to  me  under  con- 
siderable awakenings  and  concern  about  their  spiritual  state. 
In  December  following,  these  same  persons  were  taken  into 
church  fellowship,  who  had  been  of  too  loose  a  life  and  con- 
versation in  times  past  ;  which  put  many  upon  further  thought- 
fulness.  From  this  time,  the  concern  began  to  increase,  and 
there  was  scarce  a  sacrament  passed,  (which  is  with  us  once 
in  eight  weelcs,)  without  some  additions  to  the  church,  from 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  252. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  21 

that  to  the  present  time  ;  though  twelve  is  the  greatest  num- 
ber that  have  been  received  at  once." 

The  wliole  number  that  had  been  admitted  from  Septem- 
ber, 1739,  to  the  date  of  the  letter,  was  ''near  a  hundred." 
From  the  details  given  by  Mr.  Seccomb,  the  revival  appears 
to  have  been  much  like  that  at  Northampton  in  17o4,  but  on 
a  smaller  scale.  Through  its  whole  continuance,  it  "  was 
not  carried  on  violently,  nor  by  strangers."  One  sermon, 
preached  in  .Tune,  1741,  by  an  aged  minister,  was  the  only 
foreign  aid  that  appeared  to  produce  any  efi'ect.  Some 
were  awakened  by  hearing  sermons  from  their  pastor,  which 
he  had  preached  to  them  before  without  affecting  them.* 

NORTHAMPTOX,  .MASS. 

Edwards  shall  speak  for  himself.  His  account  was  written 
December   21,     1743  : 

"Ever  since  tlie  great  work  of  God  that  was  wrought 
here  about  nine  years  ago,  there  has  been  a  great,  abiding 
alteration  in  this  town  in  many  resj)ects.  There  has  been 
vastly  more  religion  kept  up  in  the  town,  among  all  sorts  of 
persons,  in  religious  exercises,  and  in  common  conversation, 
than  used  to  be  before.  There  has  remained  a  more  gener- 
al seriousness  and  decency  in  attending  the  public  worshij).  — 
I  suppose  the  town  has  been  in  no  measure  so  free  from 
vice, — for  any  long  time  together,  for  this  sixty  years,  as  it 
has  this  nine  years  past.  There  has  also  been  an  evident 
alteration  with  respect  to  a  charitable  spirit  to  the  poor. — 
And  though,  after  that  great  work  of  nine  years  ago,  there 
has  been  a  very  lamentable  decay  of  religious  affections,  and 
the  engagedness  of  people's  spirit  in  religion  ;  yet  many 
societies  for  prayer  and  social  religion  were  all  along  kept 
up,  and  there  were  son)c  few  instances  of  awakening  and 
deep  concern  about  the  things  of  another  world,  even  in  the 
most  dead  time.  In  the  year  1740,  in  the  spring,  before 
Mr.  Whitefield  came  to  this  town,  there  was  a  visible  alter- 
ation. There  was  more  seriousness  and  religious  conversa- 
tion, especially  among  young  people.  Those  things  that 
were  of  ill  tendency  among  them  were  more  forborne  ;  and 
it  was  a  more  frequent  thing  for  persons  to  visit  their  minis- 
ter upon  soul  accounts.      In  some  particular  persons,  there 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  H.  p.  13. 


22  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

appeared  a  great  alteration  about  that  time.  And  thus  it 
continued  till  Mr.  Whitefield  came  to  town,  which  was 
about  the  middle  of  October  following."* 

What  followed  at  Northampton,  belongs  to  a  subsequent 
part  of  the  history. 

PRESBYTERIANISM  IN  1740. 

The  awakening  at  New  Londonderry,  Pa.,  introduces  us 
to  another  class  of  people,  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians,  and  obliges  us  to  consider  the  religious  bear- 
ings of  their  ecclesiastical  polity. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Mr.  Stoddard's  doctrine  concern- 
ing the  Lord's  Supper  ever  prevailed  among  Presbyterians, 
either  here  or  in  Europe.  Their  doctrine  always  has  been, 
that  saving  faith  is  necessary,  in  order  to  an  acceptable  and 
profitable  partaking  of  that  ordinance.  The  preparatory  lec- 
ture before  each  communion  season  seems  to  have  been  in- 
tended mainly,  to  call  the  minds  of  the  people  to  the  requi- 
site qualifications,  that  they  might  not  come  forward  unpre- 
pared, and  eat  and  drink  "unworthily."  But  in  Scotland, 
the  Presbyterian  was  the  church  established  by  law,  and  all, 
except  the  "ignorant"  and  the  "  scandalous,"  had  a  legal 
right  to  its  ordinances.  All  the  children  born  within  the 
parish  limits  w^ere  to  be  baptized  in  infancy,  to  receive  a 
Christian  education  under  the  care  of  the  pastor  and  elders, 
and  to  be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  table,  when  educated.  To 
test  the  sufficiency  of  their  knowledge,  they  must  be  ex- 
amined by  the  session  ;  that  is,  by  the  pastor  and  elders. 
The  session,  too,  may  excommunicate  or  suspend  its  offend- 
ing members  from  the  communion  of  the  church  ;  but  all  its 
acts  are  subject  to  revision  and  reversal  by  higher  courts. 

It  was  the  design  of  the  founders  of  American  Presby- 
terianism,  —  at  least,  of  such  of  them  as  were  from  Scot- 
land or  Ireland,  —  fo  adopt  the  Scottish  system,  as  far  as  the 
different  circumstances  of  the  country  would  permit ;  or,  to 
use  the  language  of  the  Synod  in  1721,  "as  far  as  the  na- 
ture and  constitution  of  this  country  would  allow."  It  was 
not  in  their  power  to  treat  all  born  or  residing  within  certain 
geographical  limits,  as  members  of  the  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion located  there.      They  could  claim  only  such  as  volun- 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  3G7. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  23 

tanly  joined  them.  The  original  members  of  many  of  the 
congregations  were  doubtless  received  on  the  testimony  of 
letters  from  their  former  pastors  or  sessions  in  Scotland 
or  Ireland  ;  *  and  they,  with  pastors  from  the  same  countries, 
would  form  churches  like  those  they  left ;  churches  containing 
some  converted  and  some  unconverted  members  ;  churches 
in  which  the  necessity  of  regeneration  was  an  article  of  faith  ; 
while  evidence  of  regeneration  was  not  required  in  order  to 
membership.  In  1735,  "  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  brought  some 
overtures  into  the  synod,  with  respect  to  trials  of  candidates 
both  for  the  ministry  and  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  that  there 
be  due  care  taken  to  examine  into  the  evidences  of  the  grace 
of  God  in  them,  as  well  as  of  their  other  necessary  qualifica- 
tions." On  the  first  of  these  points,  the  response  of  the 
synod  was  explicit.  All  the  presbyteries  were  ordered  "that 
they  diligently  examine  all  candidates  for  the  ministry,  in  their 
experience  of  a  work  of  sanctifying  grace  in  their  hearts  ;  and 
that  they  admit  none  to  that  sacred  trust,  that  are  not,  in  the 
eye  of  charity,  serious  Christians."  The  other  point,  by 
inadvertence  or  design,  was  evaded.  "  And  the  synod  does 
also  exhort  all  the  ministers  within  our  bounds,  to  use  due 
care  in  examining  those  whom  they  admit  to  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per." f  But  what  "  care  "  was  "  due  "  on  such  occasions, 
and  w^iether  the  candidates  were  to  be  examined  as  to  "  the 
evidences  of  the  grace  of  God  in  them,"  was  left  unde- 
cided. I  It  is  probable  that  several  ministers  at  that  time 
practised  according  to  the  rule  which  Mr.  Tennent  wished 
the  synod  to  establish  ;  but  others,  and  probably  a  large  ma- 

*  Such  letters  from  Scotland  or  Ireland  are  even  now  a  source  of  per- 
plexity to  Presbyterian  pastors  in  America.  Those  who  bring  them,  ex- 
pect to  be  received  as  coinmunicants;  while  perhaps  neither  they  nor  their 
former  pastors  suppose  tiiey  give  any  evidence  that  they  have  been  born 
again.  Within  a  very  few  years,  a  young  man  who  presented  such  a 
latter  to  a  Presbyterian  pastor  in  New  York,  was  plainly  faitlifully  and 
affectionately  told  what  was  here  required  as  a  qualification  for  admission 
to  the  Lord's  table,  and  his  case  was  deferred.  For  this,  he  soon  after  ex- 
pressed the  warmest  gratitude  ;  as  it  had  been  the  means  of  his  conversion. 

t  Professor  Hodge's  Const  Hist.  Vol.  I.  p.  240.  He  quotes  "  Minutes, 
p.  31."  Dr    Miller,  in  his  "  Life  of  Rogers,"  says  it  was  in  1734. 

I  And  there  it  remains,  even  unto  this  day  ;  every  session  practising 
according  to  its  own  views  of  duty  It  is  supposed,  however,  that  a  large 
majority  of  church  sessions,  ainontr  ever}'  class  of  American  Presbyterians, 
now  hold  Mr  Tennent's  views  on  this  subject  ami  with  greater  or  less 
strictness,  practise  accordingly.  So  far  as  the  author  has  been  able  to  learn, 
Mr.  Tennent's  overture  was  both  the  first  and  the  last  attempt  to  establish 
any  uniform  rule  on  this  subject. 


24  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

jority,  followed  the  European  custom,  of  admitting  all  who 
knew  the  creed  and  catechisms,  and  were  not  "  scanda- 
lous."* Thus,  though  they  took  a  different  road  from  iNIr. 
Stoddard,  they  arrived  at  the  same  practical  result.  Both 
agreed  in  admitting  to  the  full  communion  of  the  church, 
persons  who  gave  no  evidence  of  regeneration.  The  doc- 
trine of  the  new  birth  ceased  to  be  regarded  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  ordinances.  The  church  bore  no  testimony  to 
that  doctrine  at  the  Lord's  table  ;  and  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence, it  practically  slipped  from  the  minds  both  of  preach- 
ers and  hearers. 

NEW  LONDONDERRY,  PA. 

Keeping  these  remarks  in  mind,  the  reader  will  understand 
the  account  of  the  awakening  at  New  Londonderry,  given  by 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Blair, — justly  one  of  the  most  venerated 
names  in  the  history  of  American  Presbyterianism.  It  is 
dated  August  6th,  1744. 

"  That  it  may  the  more  clearly  appear  that  the  Lord  has 
indeed  carried  on  a  work  of  true  real  religion  among  us  of 
late  years,  I  conceive  it  will  be  useful  to  give  a  brief  general 
view  of  the  state  of  religion  in  these  parts  before  this  remark- 
able season.  I  doubt  not,  then,  but  there  were  some  sin- 
cerely religious  people  up  and  down  ;  and  there  were,  I  be- 
lieve, a  considerable  number  in  the  several  congregations 
pretty  exact,  according  to  their  education,  in  the  observance 
of  the  external  forms  of  religion,  not  only  as  to  attendance 
upon  public  ordinances  on  the  Sabbaths,  but  also,  as  to  the 
practice  of  family  worship,  and  perhaps,  secret  prayer  too. 
But  with  these  things  the  most  part  seemed  to  appearance  to 
rest  contented  ;  and  to  satisfy  their  consciences  just  with  a 
dead  formahtv  in  religion.  If  they  performed  these  duties 
pretty  punctually  in  their  seasons,  and  as  they  thought  with  a 
good  meaning  out  of  conscience,  and  not  just  to  obtain  a 
name  for  religion  among  men  ;  then  they  were  ready  to  con- 
clude that  they  were  truly  and  sincerely  religious.  A  very 
lamentable  ignorance  of  the  main  essentials  of  true  practical 
religion  and  the  doctrines  nextly  relating  thereunto,  very 
generally  prevailed.      The  nature  and  necessity  of  the  new 

*  It  does  not  appear  that  the  Tennents  ever  belonged  to  a  Presbyterian 
church  in  Ireland.  The  Rev.  William  Tennent,  sen.,  passed  frnm  the  es- 
tablished (Episcopal)  church  in  Ireland,  to  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Amer- 
ica.    His  sons  were  educated  here. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  25 

birth  was  but  little  known  or  thought  of.      The  necessity  of 
a  conviction  of  sin  and  misery,  by  the  Holy  Spirit  opening 
and  applying  the  Law  to  the  conscience,  in  order  to  a  saving 
closure  with  Christ,  was  hardly  known  at  all  to  the  most      It 
was  thought  that  if  there  was  any  need  of  a  heart-distressing 
Sight  of  the  soul's  danger,  and  fear  of  divine   wrath,  it  was 
only  needful   for   the  grosser   sort  of  sinners  ;  and  for  any 
others   to  be   deeply   exercised   this   way,    (as    there    might 
sometimes  be  before  some  rare  instances  observable,)  this 
was  generally  looked  upon  to  be  a  great  evil  and  temptation 
that  had   befallen  those  persons.      The  common  names  for 
such  soul-concern  were  melancholy,  trouble  of  mind,  or  de- 
spair.    These  terms  were  in  common,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
acquainted,  inditlerently  used   as    synonymous  ;   and   trouble 
of  mind  was  looked  upon  as  a  great  evil,  which  all  persons 
that  made  any  sober  profession  and  practice  of  religion  ought 
carefully  to  avoid.      There  was  scarcely  any  suspicion  at  all, 
in  general,  of  any  danger  of  depending  upon  self-righteous- 
ness,  and   not   upon   the   righteousness  of  Christ   alone  for 
salvation.     Papists  and  Quakers  would  be  readily  acknowl- 
edged guilty  of  this  crime  ;  but  hardly  any  professed  Presby- 
terian.     The   necessity  of  being  first  in  Christ  by   a   vital 
union,  and  in  a  justified  state,  before  our  religious  services 
can  be  well  pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God,  was  very  little 
understood  or  thought  of.      But  the  common  notion   seemed 
to   be,  that  if  people  were  aiming  to  be  in  the  way  of  duty 
as  well  as  they  could,  as  they  imagined,  there  was  no  reason 
to  be  much  afraid. 

"According  to  these   principles,  and  this  ignorance   of 
some  of  the  most  soul-concerning  truths  of  the  Gospel,  peo- 
ple were  very  generally,  through  the  land,  careless  at  heart, 
and  stupidly  indifferent  about  the  great  concerns  of  eternity 
Ihere  was  very  little  appearance  of  any  hearty  engagedness 
in  religion  ;  and  indeed  the  wise,  for  the  most  part,  were  in 
a  great  degree  asleep  with  the  foolish.     It  was  sad  to  see 
with  what  a  careless  behaviour  the  public  ordinances  were  at- 
tended, and  how  people  were  given  to  unsuitable  wordly  dis- 
course on  the  Lord's  holy  day.      Li  public  companies,  es- 
pecially at   weddings,  a  vain  and  frothy  lightness    was  ap- 
parent in  the  deportment  of  manv  professors  ;  and  in  some 
places  very  extravagant  follies,  as  horse-running,  fiddling  and 
dancing,  pretty  much  obtained  on  those  occasions. 

3 


26  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  Thus  religion  lay  as  it  were  dying,  and  ready  to  expire 
its  last  breath  of  life  in  this  part  of  the  visible  church  :  and 
it  was  in  the  spring,  An.  1740,  when  the  God  of  salvation 
was  pleased  to  visit  us  with  the  blessed  effusions  of  his  Holy 
Spirit  in  an  eminent  manner.  The  first  very  open  and  public 
appearance  of  this  gracious  visitation  in  these  parts,  was  in 
the  congregation  which  God  has  committed  to  my  charge. 
This  congregation  has  not  been  erected  above  fourteen  or 
fifteen  years  from  this  time.  The  place  is  a  new  settle- 
ment, generally  settled  with  people  from  Ireland  (as  all  our 
congregations  in  Pennsylvania,  except  two  or  three,  chiefly 
are  made  up  of  people  from  that  kingdom.)  I  am  the  first 
minister  they  have  ever  had  settled  in  the  place  ;  having  been 
regularly  liberated  from  my  former  charge  in  East  Jersey, 
above  an  hundred  miles  northeastward  from  hence,  (the 
Rev.  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  (of  which  I  had  the 
comfort  of  being  a  member,)  judging  it  to  be  my  duty,  for 
sundry  reasons,  to  remove  from  thence.)  At  the  earnest  in- 
vitation of  the  people  here,  I  came  to  them  in  the  beginning 
of  November,  1739  ;  accepted  of  a  call  from  them  tliat  winter, 
and  was  formally  installed  and  settled  among  them  as  their 
minister  in  April  following.  There  were  some  hopefully 
pious  people  here  at  my  first  coming,  which  was  a  great 
encouragement  and  comfort  to  me. 

"  I  had  some  view  and  sense  of  the  deplorable  condition 
of  the  land  in  general ;  and  accordingly  the  scope  of  my 
preaching  through  that  first  winter  after  I  came  here,  was 
mainly  calculated  for  persons  in  a  natural  unregenerate  state. 
I  endeavoured,  as  the  Lord  enabled  me,  to  open  up  and 
prove  from  his  word,  the  truths  which  I  judged  most  neces- 
sary for  such  as  were  in  that  state  to  know  and  believe  in 
order  to  their  conviction  and  conversion.  I  endeavoured  to 
deal  searchingly  and  solemnly  with  them  ;  and  through  the 
concurring  blessing  of  God,  I  had  knowledge  of  four  or  five 
brought  under  deep  convictions  that  winter. 

"  In  the  beginning  of  March  I  took  a  journey  into  East 
Jersey,  and  was  abroad  for  two  or  three  Sabbaths.  A 
neighbouring  minister,  who  seemed  to  be  earnest  for  the 
awakening  and  conversion  of  secure  sinners,  and  whom  I 
had  obtained  to  preach  a  Sabbath  to  my  people  in  my  ab- 
sence, preached  to  them,  I  think,  on  the  first  Sabbath  after  I 
left  home.     His  subject  was,  the  dangerous  and  awful  case 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  27 

of.  such  as  continue  unregenerate  and  unfruitful  under  the 
means  of  grace.  The  text  was  Luke  xiii.  7.  'Then  said 
he  to  the  dresser  of  his  vineyard  ;  behold  these  three  years 
I  come  seeking  fruit  on  this  fig-tree,  and  find  none  ;  cut  it 
down,  why  cunibereth  it  the  ground  .' '  Under  that  sermon 
there  was  a  visible  appearance  of  much  soul-concern  among 
the  hearers  ;  so  that  some  burst  out  with  an  audible  noise  into 
bitter  crying  (a  thing  not  known  in  these  parts  before.)  After 
1  had  come  home,  there  came  a  young  man  to  my  house 
under  deep  trouble  about  the  stale  of  his  soul,  whom  I  had 
looked  upon  as  a  pretty  light,  merry  sort  of  a  youth.  He 
told  me  that  he  was  not  any  thing  Goncerned  about  himself  in 
the  time  of  hearing  the  above-mentioned  sermon,  nor  after- 
wards, till  the  next  day  that  he  went  to  his  labor,  which  was 
grubbing  in  order  to  clear  some  new  ground.  The  first 
grub  he  set  about  was  a  pretty  large  one  with  a  high  td^,  and 
when  he  had  cut  the  roots,  as  it  fell  down,  these  words  came 
instantly  to  his  remembrance,  and  as  a  spear  to  his  heart,  '  Cut 
it  down,  why  cumberelh  it  the  ground.^'  '  So '  thought  he, 
'must  I  be  cut  down  by  the  justice  of  God  for  the  burning 
of  hell,  unless  I  get  into  another  state  than  I  am  now  in.' 
He  thus  came  into  very  great  and  abiding  distress,  which, 
to  all  appearance,  has  had  a  happy  issue  ;  his  conversation 
being  to  this  day  as  becomes  die  Gospel  of  Christ. 

"  The  news  of  this  very  public  appearance  of  deep  soul- 
concern  among  my  people  met  me  an  hundred  miles  from 
home  :  I  was  very  joyful  to  hear  of  it,  in  hopes  that  God 
was  about  to  carry  on  an  extensive  work  of  converting  grace 
amongst  them.  And  the  first  sermon  I  preached  after  my 
return  to  them,  was  from  Matthew  vi.  33.  '  Seek  ye  first 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteousness.'  After  opening 
up  and  explaining  the  parts  of  the  text,  when,  in  the  im- 
provement, 1  came  to  press  the  injunction  in  the  text  upon 
the  unconverted  and  ungodly,  and  ofl'ered  this  as  one  reason 
among  others,  why  they  should  now  henceforth  first  of  all 
seek  the  kingdom  and  righteousness  of  God,  viz.,  that  they 
had  neglected  too  long  to  do  so  already,  this  consideration 
seemed  to  come  and  cut  like  a  sword  upon  several  in  the 
congregation  ;  so  that  while  I  was  speaking  upon  it,  they 
could  no  longer  contain,  but  burst  out  in  the  most  bitter  mourn- 
ing. I  desired  them,  as  much  as  possible  to  restrain  them- 
selves from  making  any  noise  that  would  hinder  themselves  or 


28  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Others  from  hearing  what  was  spoken  ;  and  often  afterwards 
I  had  occasion  to  repeat  the  same  counsel.  I  still  advised 
people  to  endeavour  to  moderate  and  bound  their  passions, 
but  not  so  as  to  resist  or  stifle  their  convictions.  The  num- 
ber of  the  awakened  increased  very  fast.  Frequently  under 
sermons  there  were  some  newly  convicted,  and  brought  into 
deep  distress  of  soul  about  their  perishing  estate.  Our  Sab- 
bath assemblies  soon  became  vastly  large  ;  many  people  from 
almost  all  parts  around  inclining  very  much  to  come  \yhere 
there  was  such  appearance  of  the  divine  power  and  pres- 
ence. I  think  there  was  scarcely  a  sermon  or  lecture 
preached  here  through  that  whole  summer,  but  there  were 
manifest  evidences  of  impressions  on  the  hearers  ;  and  many 
times  the  impressions  were  very  great  and  general.  Several 
would  be  overcome  and  fainting  ;  others  deeply  sobbing, 
hardly  able  to  contain  ;  others  crying  in  a  most  dolorous 
manner  ;  many  others  more  silently  weeping  ;  and  a  solemn 
concern  appearing  in  the  countenances  of  many  others. 
And  sometimes  the  soul-exercises  of  some  (though  com- 
paratively but  very  few)  would  so  far  affect  their  bodies  as 
to  occasion  some  strange  unusual  bodily  motions.  I  had  op- 
portunities of  speaking  particularly  with  a  great  many  of 
those  who  afforded  such  outward  tokens  of  inward  soul- 
concern  in  the  time  of  public  worship  and  hearing  of  the 
word.  Indeed,  many  came  to  me  of  themselves  in  their 
distress,  for  private  instruction  and  counsel  ;  and  I  found, 
so  far  as  I  can  remember,  that  with  by  far  the  greater  part, 
their  apparent  concern  in  public  was  not  just  a  transient 
qualm  of  conscience,  or  merely  a  floating  commotion  of  the 
affections  ;  but  a  rational,  fixed  conviction  of  their  dangerous 
perishing  estate.  They  could  generally  offer  as  a  convictive 
evidence  of  their  being  in  an  unconverted,  miserable  estate, 
that  they  were  utter  strangers  to  those  dispositions,  exer- 
cises and  experiences  of  soul  in  religion,  \vhich  they  heard 
laid  down  from  God's  word,  as  the  inseparable  characters 
of  the  truly  regenerate  people  of  God  ;  even  such  as  before 
had  something  of  the  form  of  religion  ;  and  I  think  the 
greater  number  were  of  this  sort ;  and  several  had  been 
pretty  exact  and  punctual  in  the  performance  of  outward 
duties  ;  they  saw  they  had  been  contenting  themselves  with 
the  form  without  the  life  and  power  of  godliness,  and  that 
they  had  been  taking  peace  to  their  consciences  from,  and 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  29 

depending  upon,  their  own  righteousness,  and  not  the  righ- 
teousness of  Jesus  Christ. 

"In  a  word,  they  saw  that  true,  practical  religion  was 
quite  another  thing  than  they  had  conceived  it  to  be,  or  had 
any  true  experience  of.  There  were  likewise  many  up  and 
down  the  land  brought  under  deep  distressing  convictions 
that  summer,  who  had  lived  very  loose  lives,  regardless  of 
the  very  externals  of  religion.  In  this  congregation,  I  be- 
lieve there  were  very  few  that  were  not  stirred  up  to  some 
solemn  thoughtfulness  and  concern  more  than  usual  about 
their  souls.  The  general  carriage  and  behaviour  of  people 
was  soon  very  visibly  altered.  Those  awakened  were  much 
given  to  reading  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  other  good  books. 
Excellent  books  that  had  lain  by  much  neglected,  were  then 
much  perused,  and  lent  from  one  to  another  ;  and  it  was  a 
peculiar  satisfaction  to  people  to  find  how  exactly  the  doc- 
trines they  heard  daily  preached,  harmonized  with  the  doc- 
trines contained  and  taug'nt  by  great  and  godly  men  in  other 
parts  and  former  times.  The  subjects  of  discourse  almost 
always,  when  any  of  them  were  together,  were  the  matters 
of  religion  and  great  concerns  of  their  souls.  All  unsuitable, 
worldly,  vain  discourse  on  the  Lord's  day  seemed  to  be  laid 
aside  among  them.  Indeed,  for  any  thing  that  appeared, 
there  seemed  to  be  almost  a  universal  reformation  in  this  re- 
spect, in  our  public  assemblies  on  the  Lord's  day. 

"  There  was  an  earnest  desire  in  people  after  opportunities 
for  public  worship  and  hearing  the  word.  I  appointed  in 
the  spring  to  preach  every  Friday  through  the  summer  when 
I  was  at  home,  and  those  meetings  were  well  attended  ;  and 
at  several  of  them  the  power  of  the  Lord  was  remarkably 
with  us.  — 

"In  some  time, -many  of  the  convinced  and  distressed 
afforded  very  hopeful,  satisfying  evidence  that  the  Lord  had 
brought  them  to  true  closure  with  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  their 
distresses  and  fears  had  been  in  a  great  measure  removed  in  a 
right  gospel  way,  by  believing  in  the  Son  of  God.  Sev- 
eral of  them  had  very  remarkable  and  sweet  deliverances 
this  way.  It  was  very  agreeable  to  hear  their  accounts, 
how  that  when  they  were  in  the  deepest  perplexity  and  dark- 
ness, distress  and  difficulty,  seeking  God  as  poor,  condemned, 
hell-deserving  sinners,  the  scene  of  recovering  grace  through 
a  Redeemer  has  been  opened  to  their  understandings  with  a 
3* 


30  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

surprising  beauty  and  glory,  so  that  they  were  enabled  to  be- 
lieve in  Christ  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  It 
appeared  that  most  generally  the  Holy  Spirit  improved  for 
this  purpose,  and  made  use  of  some  one  particular  passage 
or  other  of  the  Holy  Scripture  that  came  to  their  remem- 
brance in  their  distress  ;  some  gospel-offer  or  promise,  or 
some  declaration  of  God,  directly  referring  to  the  recovery 
and  salvation  of  undone  sinners  by  the  new  covenant.  But 
with  some  it  was  otherwise.  They  had  not  any  one  particu- 
lar place  of  Scripture  more  than  another  in  their  view  at  the 
time.  Those  who  met  with  such  a  remarkable  relief,  —  as 
their  account  of  it  was  rational  and  scriptural,  so  they  ap- 
peared to  have  at  the  time,  the  attendants  and  fruits  of  a  true 
faith  ;  particularly,  humility,  love,  and  an  affectionate  regard 
to  the  will  and  honor  of  God.  Much  of  their  exercise  was 
in  self-abasing  and  self-loathing,  and  admiring  the  astonishing 
condescension  and  grace  of  God  towards  such  vile  and  des- 
picable creatures,  that  had  been  ♦o  full  of  enmity  and  dis- 
affection to  him.  They  freely  and  sweetly,  with  all  their 
hearts,  chose  the  way  of  his  commandments.  Their  en- 
flamed  desire  was,  to  live  to  him  for  ever  according  to  his 
will,  and  to  the  glory  of  his  name. 

"  There  were  others,  that  had  not  had  such  remarkable  re- 
lief and  comfort,  who  yet  I  could  not  but  think  were  savingly 
renewed,  and  brought  truly  to  accept  of  and  rest  upon  Jesus 
Christ,  though  not  with  such  a  degree  of  liveliness  and  liberty, 
strength  and  joy;  and  some  of  those  continued  for  a  considera- 
ble time  after,  for  the  most  part,  under  a  very  distressing  sus- 
picion and  jealousy  of  their  case.  I  was  all  along  very  cau- 
tious of  expressing  to  people  my  judgment  of  the  goodness 
of  their  states,  excepting  where  I  had  pretty  clear  evidences 
from  them  of  their  being  savingly  changed,  and  yet  they 
continued  in  deep  distress,  casting  off  all  their  evidences. 
Sometimes,  in  such  cases,  I  have  thought  it  needful  to  use 
greater  freedom  that  way  than  ordinary  ;  but  otherwise,  I 
judged  that  it  could  be  of  little  use,  and  might  easily  be 
hurtful. 

"  Besides  those  above  spoke  of,  whose  experience  of  a 
work  of  grace  was  in  a  good  degree  clear  and  satisfying, 
there  were  some  others  (though  but  very  (e\v  in  this  congre- 
gation that  I  knew  of)  who,  having  very  little  knowledge  or 
capacity,  had  a  very  obscure  and  improper  way  of  represent- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  31 

ing  their  case  in  relating  how  they  had  been  exerciserl.  They 
would  chiefly  speak  of  such  things  as  were  only  the  effects 
of  their  soul-exercise  upon  their  bodies  from  time  to  time, 
and  some  things  that  were  purely  imaginary  ;  which  obliged 
me  to  be  at  much  pains  in  my  inquiries,  before  I  could  get 
any  just  ideas  of  their  case.  1  would  ask  them,  what  were 
the  thoughts,  the  views,  and  apprehensions  of  their  minds, 
and  exercise  of  their  affections,  (at  such  times  when  they 
felt,  perhaps,  a  quivering  come  over  them,  as  they  had  been 
saying,  or  a  faintness,  or  thought  they  saw  their  hearts  full  of 
some  nauseous  fillhiness  ;  or  when  they  felt  a  heavy  weight 
or  load  at  their  hearts,  or  felt  the  weight  again  taken  off  and 
a  pleasant  warmness  rising  from  their  hearts,  as  they  would 
probably  express  themselves,)  which  might  be  the  occasions 
or  causes  of  these  things  they  spoke  of.  And  then,  when 
with  some  difficulty  1  could  get  them  to  understand  me, 
some  of  them  would  give  a  pretty  rational  account  of  solemn 
and  spiritual  exercises  ;  and  after  a  thorough,  careful  exam- 
ination this  way,  I  could  not  but  conceive  good  hopes  of 
some  such  persons. 

"  But  there  were  moreover  several  others,  who  seemed  to 
think  concerning  themselves  that  they  were  under  some 
good  work,  of  whom,  yet,  I  could  have  no  reasonable 
ground  to  think  that  they  were  under  any  hopeful  work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  As  near  as  I  could  judge  of  iheir  case 
from  all  my  acquaintance  and  conversation  with  them,  it  was 
much  to  this  purpose  :  They  believed  there  was  a  good 
work  going  on  ;  that  people  were  convinced,  and  brought 
into  a  converted  state  ;  and  they  desired  to  be  converted 
too  :  They  saw  others  weeping  and  fainting,  and  heard 
people  mourning  and  lamenting,  and  they  thought  if  they 
could  be  like  these,  it  would  be  very  hopeful  with  them  ; 
hence,  they  endeavoured  just  to  get  themselves  affected  by 
sermons,  and  if  they  could  come  to  weeping,  or  get  their 
passions  so  raised  as  to  incline  them  to  vent  themselves  by 
cries,  now  they  hoped  they  were  got  under  convictions,  and 
were  in  a  very  hopeful  way  ;  and  afterwards,  they  would 
speak  of  their  being  in  trouble,  and  aim  at  complaining  of 
themselves,  but  seemed  as  if  they  knew  not  well  how  to  do 
it,  nor  what  to  say  against  themselves  ;  and  then  they  would 
be  looking  and  expecting  to  get  some  texts  of  Scripture  ap- 
plied to  them  for   their  comfort  ;  and  when  any  Scripture 


32  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

text  which  they  thought  was  suitable  for  that  purpose  came 
to  their  minds,  they  were  in  hopes  it  was  brought  to  them  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  that  they  might  take  comfort  from  it. 
And  thus,  much  in  such  a  way  as  this,  some  appeared  to  be 
pleasing  themselves  just  with  an  imaginary  conversion  of 
their  own  making.  I  endeavoured  to  correct  and  guard 
against  all  such  mistakes,  so  far  as  I  discovered  them  in  the 
course  of  my  ministry,  and  to  open  up  the  nature  of  a  true 
conviction  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  of  a  saving  conversion. 
"  Thus  I  have  given  a  very  brief  account  of  the  state  and 
progress  of  religion  here  through  that  first  summer  after  the 
remarkable  revival  of  it  among  us.  Towards  the  end  of 
that  summer,  there  seemed  to  be  a  stop  put  to  the  further 
progress  of  the  work  as  to  the  conviction  and  awakening  of 
sinners  ;  and  ever  since  there  have  been  very  few  instances 
of  persons  convinced.  It  remains  then,  that  I  speak  some- 
thing of  the  abiding  effects  and  after-fruits  of  those  awaken- 
ings and  other  religious  exercises  which  people  were  under 
during  the  abovementioned  period.  Such  as  were  only 
under  some  slight  impressions  and  superficial  awakenings, 
seem  in  general  to  have  lost  them  all  again,  without  any  abid- 
ing hopeful  alteration  upon  them.  They  seem  to  have  fallen 
back  again  into  their  former  carelessness  and  stupidity.  And 
some  that  were  under  pretty  great  awakenings,  and  consid- 
erably deep  convictions  of  their  miserable  state,  seem  also  to 
have  got  peace  again  to  their  consciences  without  getting  it 
by  a  true  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  affording  no  satisfying 
evidence  of  their  being  savingly  renewed.  But,  through  the 
infinite  rich  grace  of  God  (and  blessed  be  his  glorious 
name  ! )  there  is  a  considerable  number  who  afford  all  the 
evidence  that  can  be  reasonably  expected  and  required  for 
our  satisfaction  in  the  case,  of  their  having  been  the  subjects 
of  a  thorough  saving  change  ;  (except  in  some  singular  in- 
stances of  behaviour,  alas  for  them,  which  proceed  from,  and 
show,  the  sad  remains  of  original  corruption  even  in  the  re- 
generate children  of  God  while  in  this  imperfect  state.) 
Their  walk  is  habitually  tender  and  conscientious,  their  car- 
riage towards  their  neighbours  just  and  kind,  and  they  appear 
to  have  an  agreeable  peculiar  love  one  for  another,  and  for 
all  in  whom  appears  the  image  of  God.  Their  discourses 
of  religion,  their  engagedness  and  dispositions  of  soul  in  the 
practice  of  the  immediate  duties  and  ordinances  of  religion. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING,  33 

all  appear  quite  otherwise  than  formerly.     Indeed,  the  liveli- 
ness of  their  affections  in  the  ways  of  religion  is  much  abated 
m  general,  and  they  are  in  some   measure  humbly  sensible 
of  this,  and  grieved   for  it,  and  are   carefully  endeavouring 
still  to  live  unto  God  ;  much  grieved  with   their  imperfec- 
tions and  the  plagues  they  find  in  their  own  hearts  ;  and  fre- 
quently they  meet  with  some   delightful  enlivenings  of  soul ; 
and  particularly  our  sacramental  solemnities  for  communicat- 
ing in  the  Lord's  Supper  have  generally  been  very  blessed 
seasons  of  enlivening  and  enlargement  to  the  people  of  God. 
There  is   a  very    evident  and    great    increase    of  Christian 
knowledge  with  many  of  them.     We  enjoy  in  this  congrega- 
tion the  happiness  of  a  great  degree  of  harmony  and  con- 
cord ;  scarcely  any  have  appeared  with  open  opposition  and 
bitterness  against  the  work  of  God  among  us  and  elsewhere 
up  and  down  the  land,  though   there  are  a  pretty  many  such 
in  several  other  places  through  the  country.      Some,  indeed, 
m   this  congregation,  but  very  few,  have  separated  from  us 
and  joined  with  the   ministers  who  have  unhappily  opposed 
this  blessed  work."* 

NEW  BRUNSWICK,  N.  J. 

The  account  given  by  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent,  dated 
August  24th,  1744,  confirms  and  illustrates  what  has  been 
said  of  the  state  of  Presbyterian  congregations,  and  of  the 
means  and  character  of  the  awakening  among  them.  He 
says  :  — 

"  The  labors  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Frelinghousa,  f  a 
Dutch  Calvinist  -minister,  were  much  blessed  to  the  people 
of  New  Brunswick  and  places  adjacent,  especially  about  the 
time  of  his  coming  among  them,  which  was  about  twenty- 
four  years  ago. 

"  When  I  came  there,  which  was  about  seven  years 
after,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  much  of  the  fruits  of  his 
ministry  ;  divers  of  his  hearers,  with  whom  I  had  opportun- 
ity of  conversing,  appeared  to  be  converted  persons,  by  their 
soundness  in  principle,  Christian  experience,  and  pious  prac- 
tice ;  and  these  persons  declared  that  the  ministrations  of  the 
aforesaid    gentleman    were    the    means   thereof.      This,   to- 


*  Christian  History,  Vol.  H.  p.  242. 

t  So  the  Dutch  pronounce  Frelinghuysen. 


34  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

gether  with  a  kind  letter  which  he  sent  me  respecting  the 
necessity  of  dividing  the  word  aright,  and  giving  to  every 
man  his  portion  in  due  season,  through  the  divine  blessing, 
excited  me  to  greater  earnestness  in  ministerial  labors.  I 
began  to  be  very  much  distressed  about  my  want  of  success  ; 
for  I  knew  not  for  half  a  year  or  more  after  I  came  to  New 
Brunswick,  that  any  one  was  converted  by  my  labors,  al- 
though several  persons  were  at  times  ailected  transiently. 

"It  pleased  God  to  afflict  me  about  that  time  with  sick- 
ness, by  which  I  had  affecting  views  of  eternity.  I  was 
then  exceedingly  grieved  that  1  had  done  so  little  for  God, 
and  was  very  desirous  to  live  one  half  year  more,  if  it  was 
his  will,  that  I  might  stand  upon  the  stage  of  the  world,  as  it 
were,  and  plead  more  faithfully  for  his  cause,  and  take  more 
earnest  pains  for  the  conversion  of  souls.  The  secure  state 
of  the  world  appeared  to  me  in  a  very  affecting  light ;  and 
one  thing  among  others  pressed  me  sore  ;  viz.  that  I  had 
spent  much  time  in  conversing  about  trifles,  which  might 
have  been  spent  in  examining  people's  states  towards  God, 
and  persuading  them  to  turn  unto  him.  I  therefore  prayed 
to  God  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  give  me  one  half  year 
more,  and  I  was  determined  to  endeavour  to  promote  his 
kingdom  with  all  my  might  at  all  adventures.  The  petition 
God  was  pleased  to  grant  manifold,  and  to  enable  me  to 
keep  my  resolution  in  some  measure. 

"After  I  was  raised  up  to  health,  I  examined  many 
about  the  grounds  of  their  hope  of  salvation,  which  I  found 
in  most  to  be  nothing  but  as  the  sand.  With  such  I  was 
enabled  to  deal  faithfully  and  earnestly,  in  warning  them  of 
their  danger,  and  urging  them  to  seek  converting  grace.  By 
this  method,  many  were  awakened  out  of  their  security  ;  and 
of  those,  divers  were  to  all  appearance  effectually  converted, 
and  some  that  I  spoke  plainly  to  were  prejudiced.  And 
here  I  would  have  it  observed,  that  as  soon  as  an  effectual 
door  was  opened,  I  found  many  adversaries,  and  my  charac- 
ter was  covered  with  unjust  reproaches,  which  through  di- 
vine goodness  did  not  discourage  me  in  my  work.  I  did 
then  preach  much  upon  original  sin,  repentance,  the  nature 
and  necessity  of  conversion,  in  a  close  examinatory  and  dis- 
tinguishing way  ;  laboring  in  the  mean  time  to  sound  the 
trumpet  of  God's  judgments,  and  alarm  the  secure  by  the 
terrors  of  the  Lord,  as   well  as   to   affect  them  with  other 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  35 

topics  of  persuasion  ;  which  method  was  sealed  by  the  Holy 
."spirit  in  the  conviction  and  conversion  of  a  considerable 
number  of  persons,  at  various  times,  and  in  different  places, 
in  that  part  of  the  country  ;  as  appeared  by  their  acquaint- 
ance with  experimental  religion,  and  good  conversation." 

Such  was  the  character  of  the  "  Great  Awakenine  "  in  its 
commencement,  before  any  foreign  influence  was  brought  to 
mingle  with  it.      And  in   many  places  where  there  was  no 
visible   movement,   such  as   these   specimens   exhibit    there 
^vas  a  reviving  of  religion  in  secret ;  there  was,  in  the  pious 
and    especially   among    pastors,  a  sense  of  spiritual   want ' 
there  utis   self-examination  ;   there   was   self-abasement  and 
mourning  for   discovered   want  of  fervor   and   constancy  in 
God  s  service  ;  there  was  prayer  for  pardon,  and  for  grace 
to  be  faithful    and  for  the  divine  blessmg  upon  faithful  labors  • 
there  was  a  better  performance  of  pulpit  and  parochial  duties! 
and  a  more  teachable  spirit,  both  in  church  members  and  oth- 
ers ;    and  m  many  places,   there  began  to  be   instances  of 
manifest  conv-ersion.      Such  was  the  state  and  such  were  the 
prospects  of  New  England,  when  George  Whitefield  was  in- 
v.ted  to  v's.t  Boston.      As  he  was  a  member  and  a  minister 
of  the  church  of  England,  we  must   inquire   what  influence 
he  institutions  of  that  church  exerted  upon  him,  and  through 
him  upon  the  American  churches. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Wn.TKFiELD  m  Eariv  Life.  His  birth,  educaUon,  and  religious  ex- 
penence.  His  success  as  a  preacher.  -  His  first  visit  to  Georgia  His 
return  to  England,  opposition,  and  success.  -  Controversy  with  the 
ii.shop  of  London.  His  intercourse  with  Watts  and  Doddridge  His 
return  to  America. 

r^v  ^5"^  ''°/^ce  ^'or  baptism"  prescribed  by  the  Church 
01  t.ngland,  the  priest,  after  the  application  of  water  to  the 
mtant,  is  requu-ed  to  say  :  —  "  Seeing  now  that  this  child  is 
regenerate  and  grafted  into  the  body  of  Christ's  church,  let 
us  give  thanks;  — "  and  in  giving  thanks,  after  repeating 
the  Lord  s  Prayer,  he  must  say  :— "  We  yield  thee  hearty 


36  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

thanks,  most  merciful  Father,  that  it  hath  pleased  thee  to  re- 
generate this  infant  with  thy  Holy  Spirit,  to  receive  him  for 
thine  own  child  hy  adoption,  and  to  incorporate  him  into  thy 
holy  church."  When  this  child  dies,  if  he  has  neither  heen 
excommunicated  nor  committed  suicide,  the  priest  must  say 
at  his  funeral: — "Forasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased  Almighty 
God,  of  his  great  mercy,  to  take  unto  himself  the  soul  of 
our  dear  brother  here  departed,  therefore  we  commit  his 
body  to  the  ground  ;  earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to 
dust ;  in  sure  and  certain  hope  of  the  resurrection  to  eternal 
life,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  Whatever  interpre- 
tation theologians  may  put  upon  this  language,  its  'practical 
influence,  on  a  large  scale,  cannot  be  doubtful.*  Unless 
counteracted  by  other  instructions,  it  must  teach  the  member 
of  the  English  church  to  believe,  that  he  was  made  a  child 
of  God  and  an  heir  of  heaven  by  baptism  ;  that,  if  not  ex- 
communicated, he  is  in  the  road  to  heaven  ;  and  that  for  the 
future,  he  has  only  to  avoid  excommunication  and  suicide, 
to  secure  his  admission  into  heaven  when  he  dies.  And 
such  has  evidently  been  its  influence.  The  unthinking  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England,  who  are  numerous,  if  not 
an  immense  majority,  actually  suppose  that  all  who  die  in  the 
communion  of  their  church,  are  saved  of  course,  and  never 
suspect  that  any  regeneration  can  be  needed,  except  that 
which  they  received  in  baptism.  The  form  of  burial  is 
doubtless  soothing  to  the  hearts  of  surviving  friends,  and  it 
might  seem  cruel  to  withhold  from  them  this  consolation, 
when  they  so  poignantly  feel  the  need  of  it  ;  but  it  is  cruel 
kindness  to  console  them  by  a  delusion  which  may  not  im- 
probably destroy  their  own  souls,  and  which  will  sink  deeper 

*  Theologians  have  strangely  overlooked  the  true,  original  meaning  of 
this  formula,  though  it  seems  sufficiently  obvious.  Before  the  child  can  be 
baptized,  it  must  promise  to  "  renounce  the  devil  and  all  his  works,  and 
constantly  believe  God's  holy  word,  and  obediently  keep  his  command- 
ments ;  "  and  must  profess  its  faith  in  the  principal  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  declaration  that  the  child  is  regenerate,  is  based  upon  the 
supposition  that  this  promise  and  profession  has  actually  been  made,  un- 
derstandingly  and  in  good  faith.  But  in  fact,  this  has  been  done  only  by 
the  child's  sponsors,  vi'ho  act  in  its  name,  on  account  of  its  acknowledged 
inability  to  do  these  things  for  itself;  and  it  needs  ratifying  by  the  child, 
when  old  enough  to  ratif}'  it.  The  regeneration  stands  in  the  same  rela- 
tion to  reality,  as  do  the  promise  and  profession  on  which  it  is  predicated. 
Both  are  ante-dated,  on  the  presumption  that  they  will  become  realities  in 
due  time.  If  this  were  generally  understood,  the  doctrine  of  baptismal 
regeneration  would  be  comparatively  harmless. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  37 

into  their  hearts  and  be  more  tenderly  cherished,  on  account 
of  the  aflecting  circumstances  under  which  it  is  administered. 
To  deal  at  once  tenderly  and  faithfully  with  the  bereaved, 
doubtlesss  requires  some  degree  of  manly  control  over  one's 
own  sympathies  ;  but  the  good  of  souls  requires  it.  And 
we  should  beware  of  encroaching  upon  the  prerogatives  of 
our  final  Judge.  We  as  presumptuously  invade  his  province 
when  we  acquit,  as  when  we  condemn. 

In  the  Church  of  England,  religious  teachers  are  not  se- 
lected by  the  people,  for  themselves,  but  are  imposed  upon 
them   by   the  king,  who   is  the  "  head  of  the   church,"   or 
by  some   one  acting  under   his    authority.     Centuries    ago, 
many  pious  and  many  superstitious  noblemen  gave  funds  for 
the  support  of  clergymen   in  certain   parishes,    reserving  to 
themselves  and  to  their  heirs  the  right  of  nominating,  or  pre- 
senting, the  clergymen  to  be  supported  by  them.      This  pro- 
vision  for  support  is  called  a  "  living."     In  other  parishes, 
where  the  "  living  "  is  derived  from  some  other  source,  the 
right  of  presentation   belongs  to  the  king,  the  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  one  of  the  universities,  or  is  attached  to  some  other 
public  office  or  institution.      The  nobleman  who  has  a  "liv- 
ing "  at  his  disposal,  gives   it  to  one  of  his  younger  sons, 
who  has  been  "  educated  for   the   church,"  as   others   have 
been  for  the  army  or  the  navy  ;  or  to  a  son  of  some  relative  ; 
or  perhaps  to  some   unprincipled  sycophant,  who  has  been 
his  companion  and  assistant  in  vice.      "  Livings  "  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  king, — that  is,  of  the   prime   minister,  —  are 
sometimes   given  to   those  who  have  performed  convenient 
drudgery  in  party  political  warfare.      Those  attached  to  the 
universities   are  sometimes  the   prize  of  laborious  and  suc- 
cessful study.     It  would  be  unjust  to  forget,  that  the  right  of 
presentation  often  happens  to  be  in  the  hands  of  a  pious  man  ; 
and  that,  by  this  and  other  means,  many  "livings  "  are  be- 
stowed on  clergymen  of  real  piety.     Many,  too,  hke  Scott 
the  commentator,  are  converted  after  they  enter  the  ministry. 
Still,  as  every  one  who  knows  any  thing  of  human  nature 
must    anticipate,  a  large  proportion   of   the   clergy  of  that 
church  are  utterly  unfit  for   their  places  ;  men  who  "  take 
orders  "  merely  for  the  sake  of  a  "  hving  "  ;  perhaps  de- 
cently moral  in  their  lives,  and  perhaps  indecently  dissipated  ; 
believing,  concerning  preparation  for  heaven,  just  what  their 
form  of   baptism   and   burial    service   naturally    teach,    and 

4 


38  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

counting  all  professions  of  more  serious  religion,  mere  fanati- 
cism or  hypocrisy.  The  more  decent,  serious,  and  literary 
part  of  this  division  of  the  established  clergy  would  naturally 
maintain  from  the  pulpit  and  in  print,  that  baptism  is  regen- 
eration, the  only  regeneration  possible  in  this  world  ;  and 
that  baptism  administered  in  their  own  "  apostolic  "  church 
is  "  valid,"  and  confers  upon  the  baptized,  some  claim  to 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Seldom,  if  ever,  has  this  gloomy 
description  been  more  generally  applicable  to  the  English 
church  and  its  clergy,  than  at  the  time  when  Whitefield  first 
appeared. 

George  Whitefield  was  born  at  Gloucester,  England,  on 
the  16th  day  of  December,  (old  style,)  in  1714.  His 
father,  Thomas  Whitefield,  who  had  been  a  wine  merchant, 
but  was  now  an  inn-keeper,  died  about  two  years  after  his 
birth.  From  the  age  of  twelve  to  fifteen,  he  distinguished 
himself  among  the  boys  at  the  public  school  by  his  progress 
in  Latin,  and  by  his  speeches  and  dramatic  performances  at 
public  examinations.  His  mother  still  kept  the  inn  ;  and  as 
a  decrease  of  business  enforced  more  economical  arrange- 
ments, George  was  obliged  to  leave  his  Latin  and  his  decla- 
mations, and  assist  in  the  drudgery  of  the  house.  He  put 
on  his  blue  apron,  —  "washed  mops,  cleaned  rooms,  and, 
in  one  word,  became  a  professed  and  common  drawer  for 
nigh  a  year  and  an  half." 

From  his  childhood,  he  tells  us,  he  "  was  always  fond  of 
being  a  clergyman,  and  used  frequently  to  imitate  the  minis- 
ters reading  prayers,"  and  other  exercises  ;  and  though  he 
accuses  himself  of  some  vices  not  uncommon  in  boys  of  his 
age,  his  conscience  seems  to  have  been  often  awakened,  and 
he  "had  early  some  convictions  of  sin."  So  strong  was 
the  bent  of  his  mind  in  that  direction,  that  while  employed 
as  a  drawer,  he  found  time  to  compose  two  or  three  sermons, 
and  frequently  spent  the  whole  night  in  reading  the  Bible. 

Changes  in  family  arrangements,  and  the  hope  that  he 
might  get  a  servitor's  place  at  Oxford,  at  length  induced  his 
mother  to  send  him  to  school  again.  Here  he  was  near  be- 
ing ruined  by  bad  company  ;  but  his  conscience  was  alarmed 
and  he  broke  away  from  its  influence.  His  narrow  escape 
made  him  feel  the  need  of  religion  more  deeply  than  ever, 
and  was  followed  by  an  external  reformation,  which  was  no- 
ticed by  his  friends.     He  overheard  one  of  them  speaking 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  39 

well  of  him,  and  his  conscience  smote  him  for  not  being  so 
good  inwardly,  as  he  appeared  outwardly.  "God  deeply 
convicted  me  of  hypocrisy."  Henceforth  he  became  more 
strict  and  abundant  in  fasting,  prayer,  and  other  religious  ob- 
servances. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  went  to  Oxford,  and  was  ad- 
mitted servitor  immediately.  The  expertness  at  waiting  on 
tables  and  the  like,  which  he  had  acquired  at  the  inn,  was 
now  of  use  to  him.  Many  of  the  rich  .students  chose  him 
for  their  servitor,  so  that  his  income  was  nearly  or  quite 
equal  to  his  wants. 

The  English  universities,  at  that  time,  were  little  else  than 
learned  dens  of  infidelity  and  dissipation.  Whitefield  was 
from  the  first  solicited,  and  expected  of  course,  to  join  in 
the  revels  of  those  around  him  ;  but  he  steadily  refused, 
and  they  soon  concluded  to  let  him  alone,  "  as  a  singular, 
odd  fellow."  His  sufferings  for  want  of  a  safe  and  well- 
informed  religious  instructor,  were  intense  and  protracted, 
and  he  run,  or  was  led,  into  many  errors,  from  some  of 
which  he  escaped  but  slowly.  Some  may  think  that  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  would  supply  the  want  of  hu- 
man teachers  ;  and  in  an  important  sense  it  was  so.  But  the 
Holy  Spirit  leads  men  into  truth,  not  in  a  way  which  renders 
mental  effort  on  their  part  unnecessary,  but  in  a  way  which 
rouses  them  to  think,  and  brings  their  thoughts  to  a  safe  re- 
sult. And  besides  ;  at  this  time,  if  we  may  trust  White- 
field's  own  judgment,  he  was  still  unregenerate  ;  he  had  not 
given  himself  up  to  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  he 
was  not  led  by  the  Spirit,  but  rather  driven  by  the  Spirit, 
which  continually  urged  him  onward  by  convictions  of  duty, 
while  he  was  continually  turning  into  every  by-path  which 
a  carnal  mind  could  mistake  for  the  way  of  life  ;  in  short,  — 
according  to  an  important  distinction  laid  down  by  Edwards 
in  his  "  Treatise  on  the  AfTections," — the  Holy  Spirit  then 
acted  071  his  mind,  and  not  in  it.  Thus,  while  he  was  irre- 
sistibly impelled  to  seek  the  truth,  and  not  suffered  to  rest 
without  finding  it,  he  was,  in  a  very  important  sense,  left  to 
find  it  as  he  could,  by  his  own  unguided  efTorts,  and  to  learn, 
by  his  own  bitter  experience,  the  folly  and  wickedness  of 
many  foolish  and  wicked  devices,  from  which  good  instruc- 
tion might  have  saved  him.  He  had  the  Bible  ;  but  all  the 
religious   instruction  he  had  received,  all  the  books  he  had 


40  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

read,  all  the  habits  of  thought,  feeling,  and  action  which  had 
prevailed  around  him  from  his  infancy,  taught  him  to  misun- 
derstand it.  Through  all  these  influences  he  must  break  or 
dig  his  way  to  the  truth  ;  to  truths  which  the  "  common 
sense  "  of  all  around  him,  the  common  sense  in  which  he 
had  been  brought  up,  condemned  as  nonsense.  What  can 
we  expect  the  history  of  his  religious  experience  to  be,  but 
an  account  of  errors  and  extravagances  by  which  he  was  in- 
jured, and  of  his  merciful  deliverance  from  them  at  last  ? 

/An  act  of  charity  to  a  poor,  vicious  woman,  who  had  at- 
tempted suicide,  brought  him  to  the  notice  of  the  "  Metho- 
dists," as  a  small  number  of  students,  under  the  special 
religious  guidance  of  John  Wesley,  had  lately  been  nick- 
named. Wesley  was  then  a  fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  and 
had  been  for  some  years  in  "holy  orders  "  ;  but,  in  his  own 
judgment  at  a  later  period,  he  was  still  destitute  of  the  saving 
knowledge  of  Christ,  and  had  only  been  led  "  into  the  desert, 
to  be  tempted,  and  humbled,  and  shown  what  was  in  his 
heart."  Still,  he  and  his  little  company  were  decidedly  in 
earnest.  They  avowed,  that  the  great  object  of  their  lives 
was,  to  save  their  souls,  and  to  live  wholly  to  the  glory  of 
God  ;  and  no  company  of  monks  ever  whipped  their  own 
naked  shoulders  for  the  good  of  their  souls  and  the  glory  of 
God  with  a  more  blind  sincerity,  than  that  under  the  mis- 
guidance of  which  these  men  were  seeking  salvation.  One 
of  their  more  harmless  rules  required  them  frequently  to 
"  interrogate  themselves  whether  they  have  been  simple  and 
recollected  ;  whether  they  have  prayed  with  fervor,  Monday, 
Wednesday,  Friday,  and  on  Saturday  noon  ;  if  they  have 
used  a  collect  at  nine,  twelve,  and  three  o'clock ;  duly 
meditated,  on  Sunday,  from  three  to  four,  on  Thomas  u 
Kempis  ;  or  mused  on  Wednesday  and  Friday,  from  twelve 
to  one,  on  the  passion."  He  gladly  put  himself  under  their 
direction,  and  they  led  him  straight  forward  into  deep  dark- 
ness. "  I  now  began,"  he  says,  "  like  them,  to  live  by 
rule,  and  to  pick  up  every  fragment  of  my  time,  that  not  a 
moment  of  it  might  be  lost.  Like  them,  having  no  weekly 
sacrament  (although  the  rubric  required  it)  at  our  own  col- 
lege, I  received  it  every  Sunday  at  Christ  Church.  I  joined 
with  them  in  keeping  the  stations,  by  fasting  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays,  and  left  no  means  unused  which  I  thought  would 
lead  me  nearer  to  Christ.     By  degrees  I  began  to  leave  off 


THK  GREAT  AWAKENING.  41 

eating  fruits  and  sucli  like,  and  gave  the  money  I  usually 
spent  in  tliat  way  to  the  poor.  Afterward  1  always  chose 
the  worst  sort  of  food,  though  my  place  furnished  me  with 
variety.  My  apparel  was  mean.  J  thought  it  unbecoming 
a  penitent  to  have  his  hair  powdered.  I  wore  woollen 
gloves,  a  patched  gown,  and  dirty  shoes  ;  and  though  I  was 
then  convinced  that  the  kingdom  of  God  did  not  consist  in 
meats  and  drinks,  yet  I  resolutely  persisted  in  these  volunta- 
ry acts  of  self-denial,  because  I  found  them  great  promoters 
of  spiritual  life.  It  was  now  suggested  to  me  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  among  the  wild  beasts  when  he  was  tempted,  and 
that  I  ought  to  follow  his  example  ;  and  being  willing,  as  I 
thought,  to  imitate  Jesus  Christ,  after  supper  I  went  into 
Christ  Church  walk,  near  our  college,  and  continued  in  silent 
prayer  nearly  two  hours  ;  sometimes  lying  flat  on  my  face, 
sometimes  kneeling  upon  my  knees.  The  night  being 
stormy,  gave  me  awful  thoughts  of  the  day  of  judgment. 
The  next  night  I  repeated  the  same  exercise  at  the  same 
place.  After  this,  the  holy  season  of  Lent  came  on,  which 
our  friends  kept  very  strictly,  eating  no  flesh  during  the  six 
weeks,  except  on  Saturdays  and  Sundays.  I  abstained  fre- 
quently on  Saturdays  also,  and  ate  nothing  on  tire  other  days, 
except  Sunday,  but  sage  tea  without  sugar,  and  coarse 
bread.  I  constantly  walked  out  in  the  cold  mornings,  till 
one  port  of  my  hands  was  quite  black.  Tiiis,  with  my  con- 
tinued abstinence  and  inward  conflicts,  at  length  so  emacia- 
ted my  body,  that  at  passion  week,  finding  I  could  scarce 
creep  up  stairs,  I  was  obliged  to  inform  my  kind  tutor  of  my 
condition,  who  immediately  sent  for  a  physician  to  me." 
He  now  gave  himself  exclusively  to  religious  reading  ;  and 
one  of  his  authors  having  informed  him,  that  "  he  that  is  em- 
ployed in  mortifying  his  will,  is  as  well  employed  as  though 
he  was  converting  the  Indians,"  Satan  so  imposed  upon  his 
understanding,  that  he  resolved  to  shut  himself  up  in  his 
study,  till  he  could  do  good  with  a  single  eye.  When  his 
author  advised  to  endeavour  after  a  silent  recollection  and 
waiting  upon  God,  Satan  told  him  that  he  must  leave  off  all 
forms,  and  not  use  his  voice  in  prayer  at  all.  The  natural 
consequence  was,  that  his  mind  began  to  lose  the  power  of 
action.  "  Whenever  I  endeavoured  to  compose  my  theme, 
I  had  no  power  to  write  a  word,  nor  so  much  as  to  tell  my 
Christian  friends  of  my  inability  to  do  it.  All  power  of 
4* 


42  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

meditating,  or  even  of  thinking,  was  taken  from  me.  My 
memory  quite  failpd  me  ;  and  I  could  fancy  myself  to  be 
like  nothing  so  much  as  a  man  locked  up  in  iron  armour." 
His  tutor  kindly  inquired  if  any  calamity  had  befallen  him, 
that  he  had  twice  failed  to  produce  his  weekly  theme.  This 
kindness  overcame  him.  "  I  burst  into  tears,  and  assured 
him  that  it  was  not  out  of  contempt  of  authority,  but  that  I 
could  not  act  otherwise.  Then  at  length  he  said,  he  believed 
I  could  not  ;  and  when  he  left  me,  told  a  friend  that  he  took 
me  to  be  really  mad.  This  friend,  hearing  what  had  hap- 
pened from  my  tutor,  came  to  me,  urging  the  command  in 
Scripture,  'to  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers.'  I  an- 
swered, yes,  but  I  had  a  new  revelation.  Lord,  what  is 
man  !  "  As  further  proof  of  the  injury  done  to  his  mind, 
his  brain,  his  nerves,  by  this  discipline,  he  was  haunted  by 
the  fear  of  seeing  the  devil.  He  thought  the  devil  would  ap- 
pear to  him  every  stair  he  went  up,  as  servitor,  at  ten  o'clock 
at  night,  to  the  gentlemen's  rooms  ;  and  he  was  so  troubled 
by  the  devil  when  he  lay  down,  that  for  some  months  he 
scarce  slept  above  three  hours  in  a  night.  In  this  horrible 
condition,  Charles  Wesley  was  afraid  to  prescribe  for  him  ; 
and  John  advised  him  to  "resume  all"  his  "externals, 
though  not  to  depend  on  them  in  the  least."  He  did  resume 
them  ;  and  happily,  his  bodily  constitution  broke  down  under 
them,  and  he  was  sick  seven  weeks.  This  sickness  effec- 
tually interrupted  his  course  of  "  externals,"  and  his  thoughts, 
released  from  the  bondage  in  which  they  had  willingly  been 
held,  communed  with  his  own  heart  and  with  the  word  of 
God.  He  spent  much  of  his  time  in  reading  the  Greek 
Testament,  and  in  prayer.  He  gained  more  clear,  rational, 
and  affecting  views  of  his  own  sinfulness,  and  saw  how  hope- 
less was  the  effort  to  remove  the  sense  of  guilt  by  a  series 
of  observances.  He  remained  in  this  condition,  till,  as  he 
informs  us,  "  One  day,  perceiving  an  uncommon  drought  and 
a  noisome  clamminess  in  my  mouth,  and  using  things  to  allay 
my  thirst,  but  in  vain,  it  was  suggested  to  me,  that  when 
Jesus  Christ  cried  out  'I  thirst,'  his  sufferings  were  near 
over.  Upon  this,  I  threw  myself  upon  the  bed,  and  cried 
out,  /  thirst,  I  thirst.  Soon  after,  I  perceived  my  load  to 
go  off;  a  spirit  of  mourning  was  taken  from  me,  and  I  knew 
what  it  was  truly  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord.  At  first  after  this, 
I  could  not  avoid  singing  psalms,  wherever  I  was  ;  but  my 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  43 

joy  became  gradually  more  settled,  and,  blessed  be  God,  has 
abode  and  increased  in  my  soul,  saving  a  few  casual  inter- 
missions, ever  since."*     Some  years  al'ierwards,  in  reply  to 
objections,  he  said  : — "  My  crying  I  thirst,  /thirst,  was  not 
to  put  myself  upon  a  level  with  Jesus  Christ.     But  when  I 
said  those  words,  /  thirst,  I  thirst,  my  soul  was  in  an  agony  ; 
I   thirsted  for  God's  salvation,  and  a  sense  of  divine  love. 
I  thirsted  for  a  clear  discovery  of  my  pardon  through  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  seal  of  the  Spirit.      I  was  at  the  same  time 
enabled  to  look  up  to  and  act  faith  upon   the  glorious   Lord 
Jesus  as  dying  for  sinners,  and  felt  the  blessed  effects  of  it." 
It  is  not  difficult,  by  combining  these  statements,  to  under- 
stand  the   progress  of  his   thoughts.      He  had  been  driven 
from  every  ground  of  hope,  but  the  mercy  of  God  ;  but  he 
had  not  dared  boldly  and  without  reserve  to  trust  that  mercy  ; 
and    yet   he  had   a    prevailing    hope    that    it    would   deliver 
him  from  his  present  anguish,  and  save  his  soul.      His  thirst, 
a  usual  symptom  of  fever,  reminded   him   of  the   thirst   of 
Christ  upon  the  cross,  which  was  near  the  end  of  his  sufTer- 
itigs.    He  appears  not  to  have  inferred  that  it  must  be  so  with 
him  also  ;  but  the  thought  arose  in  his  mind,  "  Why  may  it 
not  be  so  with  me  ?     Why  may  I  not  now  receive  deliver- 
ance and  comfort  .'     Why  may   I  not  now  dare  to  trust  and 
rejoice  in  the  pardoning  mercy  of  God  .'  "     There  was  no 
reason   why  he  might  not, — why   he  ought  not.      He  saw 
nothing  to  forbid  him.     He  prayed  in  hope,  borrowing  lan- 
guage from  the  fact  which  had  suggested  the  train  of  thought, 
—  "I   thirst,  —  I    thirst,"  —  for    faith   in  pardoning    love. 
"  Lord,  I  believe  !     Help  thou  mine  unbelief."     His  prayer 
was  heard.     He  dared  to  trust  in  the  mercy  of  God,  as  re- 
vealed in  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ  for  sinners.     He  did  right 
in  trusting  that  mercy.     Conscience  bore  witness  that  he  did 
right.      "  The  burden  that  had  so  heavily  oppressed  him," 
the  "load  "  of  guilt  and  terror  and  anxiety  that  weighed  down 
his  spirit  while  he  sinfully  and  ungratefully  hesitated  to  trust 
God's   mercy,  was  gone.      He  saw  the  'trustworthiness  of 
God's  mercy  in  Christ,  and  his  heart  rejoiced. 

Though  the  English  universities  were  established  mainly 
for  the  purpose  of  educating  men  for  the  ministry.  White- 
field  was  not  likely  to  gain  a  good  knowledge  of  theology 

*  Whitefield'a  "  Life  and  Journal."     Athenoeum  Library. 


44  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

there.  He  took  another  and  a  characteristic  course.  Some 
time  after  his  conversion,  when  lie  was  at  Gloucester,  he 
says:  —  "I  began  to  read  the  Holy  Scriptures  upon  my 
knees  ;  laying  aside  all  other  books,  and  praying  over,  if 
possible,  every  line  and  word.  This  proved  meat  indeed 
and  drink  indeed  to  my  soul.  I  daily  received  fresh  life, 
light,  and  power  from  above.  I  got  more  true  knowledge 
from  reading  the  book  of  God  in  one  month,  than  I  could 
ever  have  acquired  from  all  the  writings  of  nien." 

It  does  not  appear  that  Whitefield  was  much  inclined  to 
compare  himself  with  others,  or  to  think  that  he  was  or 
should  be  a  greater  man  than  they  ;  but  he  certainly  looked 
forward  to  his  own  career  in  the  ministry,  as  a  great  and 
important  work  ;  and  when  his  friends  urged  him  to  receive 
ordination,  he  remonstrated,  and  insisted  on  more  time  for 
preparation.  He  intended  to  have  a  hundred  sermons  care- 
fully written  before  beginning  to  preach.  He  had  but  one, 
and  lent  that  to  a  neighbouring  clergyman,  to  convince  him  that 
he  was  not  yet  fit  to  be  ordained.  The  clergyman  kept  it  a 
fortnight,  preached  half  of  it  at  a  time  to  his  own  people, 
and  sent  it  back,  with  a  guinea  for  the  use  of  it.  The  bish- 
ops had  resolved  to  ordain  none  under  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  and  Whitefield  was  but  twenty-one  ;  but  Bishop  Ben- 
son, who  became  acquainted  with  his  talents,  activity,  and 
usefulness,  told  him  that,  notwithstanding  that  rule,  he  would 
ordain  him  whenever  he  should  apply.  His  excuses  being 
exhausted,  he  was  ordained  on  the  Sabbath,  June  20,  I73G. 
One  week  from  that  day,  he  preached  his  first  sermon,  in 
his  native  parish.  Curiosity  brought  together  a  large  audi- 
ence ;  and  though  "some  mocked,"  yet  "most  for  the 
present  seemed  struck."  Some  one  told  Bishop  Benson, 
that  Whitefield  drove  fifteen  of  his  hearers  mad  by  this,  his 
first  sermon.  The  bishop  wished  the  madness  might  not  be 
forgotten  before  the  next  Sabbath. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  a  history  of  Whitefield's  labors 
in  England.  It  is  enough  for  the  present  purpose  to  say, 
that  he  preached  to  others  the  doctrines  on  which  his  own 
soul  relied  for  salvation  ;  that  he  preached  them  with  the 
full  persuasion  that  others  must  receive  thern  or  perish  for- 
ever ;  that  he  preached  under  the  influence  of  an  affecting 
view  of  the  worth  of  the  soul,  and  an  intense  desire  that  his 
hearers  might  be  saved.     In  preaching  that  men,  of  all  ages 


THE  GREAT  AWAKEiMNG.  45 

and  conditions,  must  be  "born  again,"  or  never  "see  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  though  there  were  some  in  the  land 
who  beheved  it,  he  found  himself  practically  alone,  going 
forth  as  the  herald  of  a  doctrine  which  the  public  agreed  to 
consider  as  new  ;  but  which,  he  felt,  God  had  made  known 
to  him  that  he  might  proclaim  it  to  others,  and  thus  revive 
the  power  of  Christianity  in  the  land.  And  as  God  had 
raised  him  up  and  enlightened  his  mind  for  the  work,  he 
doubted  not  that  God  would  be  with  him  in  the  performance, 
and  make  his  strength  equal  to  his  day.  He  went,  there- 
fore, fearlessly,  as  well  as  earnestly  and  affectionately,  about 
his  work.  Moved  in  his  inmost  soul  by  the  sight  of  his 
fellow-men,  ready  to  perish  and  yet  ignorant  of  their  danger, 
he  could  not  fetter  himself  with  the  rules  by  which  ordinary 
men  were  taugiit  to  construct  dull  sermons  ;  he  must  pour 
forth  the  desires  of  his  heart  and  the  convictions  of  his  mind. 
And  he  did  pour  them  forth,  in  a  style  natural  and  clear, 
animated  and  pathetic,  which  sometimes  the  intensity  of  pa- 
thos rendered  truly  sublime.  He  poured  them  forth  in  a 
voice  of  wonderful  flexibility,  compass  and  power,  and  ac- 
companied with  the  most  graceful,  impressive  and  appropri- 
ate action.  In  look,  attitude,  gesture,  intonation, — in  all 
that  constitutes  the  manner  of  an  orator,  the  world  probably 
never  saw  his  superior,  perhaps,  never  his  equal.  In  later 
years,  when  his  eloquence  had  excited  general  attention,  men 
of  powerful  and  cultivated  minds,  unmoved  by  the  truths  he 
uttered, — statesmen,  orators,  scholars,  professional  actors, 
—  Franklin,  Hume,  Chesterfield,  Garrick,*  Foote, —  lis- 
tened, as  if  spell-bound,  to  his  eloquence.  But  it  was  his 
ardent  love  for  souls  that  were  perishing,  his  sense  of  the 
unutterable  importance  of  the  truth,  which  God  had  raised 
him  up  to  proclaim  to  a  world  that  had  forgotten  it,  and  his 
firm  assurance  that  God  was  with  him  to  give  that  truth 
success,  that  was  the  fountain  of  his  power.  When  he  pro- 
claimed that  truth,  and  besought  men  to  hear  it  and  think 
of  it,  that  their  souls  might  live,  they  could  not  refuse. 
They  were  interested  ;  they  were  affected  ;  they  were 
alarmed.  They  were  persuaded,  that  they  must  "  strive  to 
enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"  or  they  should  not  avoid  the  road 
that  leadeth  to  destruction  ;  that,  if  they  continued  to  neglect 

*  Garrick  said,  that  Whitefield  could  make  his  hearers  weep  or  tremble 
at  pleasure,  by  his  varied  utterance  of"  Mesopotamia." 


46  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

salvation,  they  should  not  escape  final  ruin.  When  his  de- 
termination became  known  to  go  to  Georgia,  whither  the 
Wesleys  had  invited  him,  rather  than  accejit  either  of  several 
eligible  "  livings  "  that  had  been  offered  him,  his  heroic  de- 
votedness  to  the  good  of  the  needy  excited  a  new  interest  in 
his  favor.  Wherever  he  went  to  take  leave  of  the  congre- 
gations to  which  he  had  preached,  at  Bristol,  at  Bath,  and 
especially  at  London,  multitudes  crowded  to  hear  him.  When, 
in  his  parting  sermon  at  Bristol,  he  told  them,  "  it  might  be 
they  would  see  him  no  more,"  the  whole  assembly  was  drown- 
ed in  tears.  Many  with  tears  followed  him  to  his  lodgings 
after  the  sermon  ;  and  the  next  day  he  was  employed  from 
seven  in  the  morning  till  midnight,  in  conversing  with  those 
who  sought  his  advice  concerning  their  salvation.  "  The 
whole  city,"  he  wrote,  "  seems  to  be  alarmed.  Churches 
are  as  full  on  week  days  as  they  used  to  be  on  Sundays,  and 
on  Sundays  so  full  that  many,  very  many,  are  obliged  to  go 
away  because  they  cannot  get  in."  "  The  word  was  sharp- 
er than  a  two-edged  sword  ;  the  doctrine  of  the  new  birth 
made  its  loay  like  lightning  into  the  hearers^  consciences.''^ 
When  he  came  to  London  to  embark,  those  who  had  heard 
him  before,  obliged  him  to  preach  almost  incessantly.  The 
stewards  of  religious  societies  laid  hold  of  him,  and  compel- 
led him  to  preach  charity  sermons  in  their  behalf.  Eight 
pounds  were  contributed  at  a  time,  where  the  usual  contribu- 
tions had  been  ten  shillings.  His  "  mighty  deeds  "  in  the 
pulpit  were  blazoned  in  the  newspapers.  He  preached  nine 
times  a  week,  and  the  people  hstened  "  as  for  eternity." 
Thousands  went  away  from  the  largest  churches,  unable  to 
gain  admittance.  Two  or  three  of  his  sermons  were  pub- 
lished. And  now  a  few  of  the  clergy  began  to  turn  against 
him.  Some  called  him  a  "  spiritual  pickpocket,"  and  oth- 
ers thought  he  used  a  charm  to  get  the  jjeople's  money. 
Some  were  offended  because  he  was  on  good  terms  with  the 
dissenters,  and  some  forbade  him  the  use  of  their  pulpits, 
unless  he  would  retract  a  wish,  expressed  in  the  preface  to 
his  sermon  on  regeneration,  that  his  brethren  would  preach 
more  frequently  on  the  new  birth.  The  opposition,  howev- 
er, had  not  become  extensive,  when,  having  collected  about 
a  thousand  pounds  for  charity  schools,  and  more  than  three 
hundred  for  the  poor  in  Georgia,  he  embarked,  Decembei 
28,  1737,  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  47 

The  vessel  touched  and  remained  some  time  at  Gibrahar. 
Here  WJiitefield's  preaching  was  attended  with  its  usual  suc- 
cess. "  Many,"  he  says,  "  that  were  quite  stark  blind,  re- 
ceived their  sight  ;  many  that  had  fallen  back,  have  repented 
and  turned  to  the  Lord  again  ;  many  that  were  ashamed  to 
own  Christ  openly,  have  waxen  bold  ;  and  many  sjynts  had 
their  hearts  filled  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory." 
When  this  account  was  published  in  England,  it  called  forth 
some  remarks,  which  show  what  was  then  the  state  of  many 
minds.  As  for  sight  being  restored  to  the  blind,  the  critic 
soberly  concluded,  "It  seems  likely  to  be  a  falsity,"  and 
that  Whitefield  had  told  the  story,  "  to  have  the  world  think 
that  God  worked  this  miracle  on  his  account."  He  was 
sadly  puzzled  with  what  Whitefield  said,  of  enjoying  the  di- 
vine presence  at  one  time  and  not  at  another,  and  thought 
that  it  must  imply  a  denial  of  God's  omnipresence.  In 
conclusion,  he  recommended,  "  that  we  should  go  to  our  bap- 
tism for  the  date  of  our  regeneration." 

After  a   long  voyage,  in  which  his  influence  was  highly 
salutary  to  his  companions,  Whitefield  arrived  at  Savannah, 
in  the  month  of  May,  1733.      He  was  cordially  received, 
but  found^  affairs  in  a  bad  condition,  and  prospects  discour- 
aging.     The  Wesleys  and  their  associates  had  labored  there 
with  all  their  might  to  do  good,  but  injudiciously,  and  with  bad 
results^     The  temper  of  the  colonists  was  not  what  it  should 
be.      Some,  however,  were  converted,  and  Whitefield   was 
"really    happy"  among  them.     Charles  Wesley  had  sug- 
gested to  him  the  design  of  an  orphan  house,  which  he  and 
General  Oglethorpe  had  contemplated.     Whitefield  entered 
mto  the  design  with  all  his  heart,  and  it  was  thought  neces- 
sary for  him  to  visit  England  to  procure  funds  for  its   estab- 
lishment, and   to   be  ordained  as  a  priest.      In   August,  he 
went  to  Charleston,  S.  C.  to  embark.      The  Rev.  Alexan- 
der Garden,  rector  of  St.  Philip's  Church,  was  "  commis- 
sary,"  or  deputy,  of  the  Bishop  of  London  for  South  Caro- 
lina ;  for  the  episcopal  churches  in  these  colonies  were  then 
attached  to  the  diocese  of  that  bishop.      Mr.  Garden  receiv- 
ed him  very  courteously,  and  Whitefield  preached  on   Sab- 
bath morning  and  evening  in  St.  Philip's  church.     Mr.  Gar- 
den   thanked   him   for   his   sermons,  informed   him  of  the  ill 
treattnent  which  John  Wesley  had  met  with  in  Georgia,  and 
promised  that  if  the  same  arbitrary  measures  should  be  used 


48  tHE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

against  him,  he  would  defend  him  with  his  hfe  and  fortune. 
On  the  6th  of  September  he  embarked,  and  after  a  danger- 
ous voyage  arrived  at  London  on  the  8th  of  December. 

The  objects  of  the  voyage  were  accomplished.  He  was 
ordained  by  Bishop  Benson,  January  14th,  1739,  and  he 
collected  more  than  £  1000  for  the  orphan  house.  But  it 
had  also  a  more  important  influence.  It  brought  the  great 
principles  of  the  contest  in  which  he  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life  distinctly  into  action,  and  it  fixed  his  mode  of  main- 
taining the  conflict.  The  clergy  had  begun  to  perceive  that 
either  his  doctrine  or  theirs,  concerning  the  new  birth  and 
the  way  of  a  sinner's  justification  before  God,  must  fall. 
True,  they  objected  against  his  irregularines  ;  but  those  ir- 
regularities, for  the  most  part,  grew  out  of  this  conflict  of 
principles.  The  bishops  received  him  coldly.  In  two  days, 
the  use  of  five  churches  was  denied  him.  The  opposition 
of  the  clergy  increased  the  people's  inclination  to  hear  ;  and 
their  crowding  to  hear  increased  the  opposition  of  the  clergy. 
Pamphlets  were  published  against  his  sermon  on  regenera- 
tion, and  sermons  were  preached  against  him,  his  doctrines, 
and  his  proceedings.  But  he  was  busy  in  attending  prayer 
meetings  and  preaching  in  the  few  churches  that  were  still 
open,  and  awakenings  and  conversions  multiplied.  At  Bris- 
tol he  had  the  use  of  the  churches  at  first,  but  in  a  short 
time  all  were  closed  against  him.  Even  at  London,  seeing 
the  crowds  around  the  doors  and  windows,  unable  to  hear, 
he  had  thought  of  preaching  to  them  in  the  open  air  ;  but 
both  he  and  his  friends  hesitated  before  taking  so  bold  a  step. 
While  at  Bristol,  he  made  the  attempt.  The  colliers  in  the 
vicinity  were  numerous,  rude,  and  ignorant.  When  provok- 
ed, they  were  the  terror  of  the  city  ;  and  at  all  times  it  was 
thought  dangerous  to  go  among  them.  Whitefield  went  one 
day  to  Hannam  Mount,  and  preached  to  about  a  hundred  of 
tliem.  "I  thought,"  he  said,  "it  might  be  doing  the  ser- 
vice of  my  Creator,  who  had  a  mountain  for  his  pulpit  and 
the  heavens  for  his  sounding-board,  and  who,  when  his  Gos- 
pel was  refused  by  the  Jews,  sent  his  servants  into  the  high- 
ways and  hedges."  The  news  spread  rapidly  among  the 
colliers,  and  his  audience  soon  increased  to  twenty  thousand. 
The  Gospel  was  indeed  "  good  news''''  to  them,  for  they  had 
never  heard  preaching  before.  "  Having  no  righteousness 
of  their  own  to  renounce,  they  were  glad  to  hear  of  a  Jesus, 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  49 

who  was  a  friend  to  publicans,  and  who  came  not  to  call  the 
righteous,  but  sinners,  to  repentance.  The  first  discovery 
of  their  being  affected  was,  to  see  the  white  gutters  made  by 
their  tears,  which  plentifully  fell  down  their  black  cheeks,  as 
they  came  out  of  their  coal-pits.  Hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
them  were  soon  brought  under  deep  convictions,  which,  as  the 
event  proved,  happily  ended  in  sound  and  thorough  conversion. 
The  change  was  visible  to  all  ;  though  numbers  chose  to  im- 
pute it  to  any  thing  rather  than  the  finger  of  God."  Besides 
the  colliers,  multitudes  of  all  ranks  came  from  Bristol  to 
hear  him.  "  The  open  firmament  above  me,  the  prospect 
of  the  adjacent  fields,  with  the  sight  of  thousands  and  thou- 
sands, some  in  coaches,  some  on  horseback,  and  some  in  the 
trees,  and  at  times  all  affected  and  drenched  in  tears  togeth- 
er, to  which  was  sometimes  added  the  solemnity  of  approach- 
ing evening,  was  almost  too  much  for,  and  quite  overcame 
me."  At  the  invitation  of  some  of  his  hearers,  he  preached 
in  a  large  bowling-green  in  the  city.  Much  of  his  time  was 
spent  in  giving  private  instruction  to  anxious  inquirers.  Hav- 
ing introduced  Wesley  to  his  hearers  at  Bristol,  he  travelled 
through  Wales  and  the  intervening  parts  of  England  to  Lon- 
don. Here  also  the  churches  were  shut  against  him,  and  he 
resorted  to  the  fields.  Moorfields,  Kennington  Common  and 
Blackheath  witnessed  his  repeated  triumphs  over  audiences 
of  ten,  fifteen,  twenty,  and  thirty  thousands.  Frequent  ex- 
cursions into  the  surrounding  country  were  attended  with 
similar  results. 

At  length,  the  dignitaries  of  the  church  were  obliged  to 
take  the  field.  On  the  1st  of  August,  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
den  published  "  A  Pastoral  Letter  to  the  people  of  his  Dio- 
cese, by  way  of  caution  against  Lukewarmness  on  one  hand, 
and  Enthusiasm  on  the  other."  Whitefield  answered  it  on 
the  13th.  In  speaking  of  lukewarmness,  the  Bishop  said, 
that  he  "  who  has  hitherto  contented  himself  with  a  bare 
bodily  attendance  upon  the  public  worship  of  God,  and  fol- 
lowing his  daily  employment  on  other  days,  and  with  abstain- 
ing from  the  more  gross  and  notorious  acts  of  sin,  and  from 
doing  any  hurt  or  injury  to  his  neighbour,  and  has  rested 
finally  upon  these,  as  the  whole  that  Christianity  requires  of 
him,"  is  "yet  in  a  very  imperfect  state,  or,  in  other  words, 
in  the  number  of  the  lukewarm  ;"  and  he  speaks  of  others, 
as  having  "  made  greater  proficiency  in  the  Christian  life  " 

5 


50  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

than  such  persons  have  done.  Whitefield  replied,  that  such 
a  person  "is  in  no  'state'  of  Christianity  at  all,"  but  "a 
reprobate, — at  present  out  of  a  state  of  salvation."  In 
speaking  of  enthusiasm,  the  Bishop  said,  that  the  ordinary 
gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  "are  no  otherwise  discernible,  than  by 
their  fruits  and  effects,  as  these  appear  in  the  lives  of  Chris- 
tians." Whitefield  admitted  that  they  were  no  otherwise  dis- 
cernible to  others  ;  but  he  contended  that  a  person  may  feel 
some  of  them,  as  love,  joy,  peace,  when  there  is  no  oppor- 
tunity of  discovering  them  to  others.  This  was  a  vital 
point ;  for  it  involved  the  question  whether  a  real  Christian 
has  an  inward  experience,  by  hearing  an  account  of  which 
others  may  form  an  opinion  of  his  piety.  The  Bishop  had 
expressed  his  hope,  that  when  the  clergy  preached  Justifi- 
cation by  Faith,  they  explain  it  so  "  as  to  leave  no  doubt 
whether  good  works  are  a  necessary  condition  of  being  jus- 
tified in  the  sight  of  God."  Whitefield  showed  from  the 
Bible,  and  from  the  articles  of  the  church,  that  good  works 
are  not  the  condition,  but  only  the  necessary  consequence, 
of  justification.  The  practical  difference  between  them  was 
palpable  and  important.  The  Bishop's  doctrine  sent  the 
anxious  sinner  to  doing  good  works,  as  a  condition  of  justi- 
fication. Whitefield's  doctrine  sent  him  directly  to  God  for 
pardon,  and  for  grace  to  do  works  truly  good.  The  Bishop 
declared  against  the  doctrine  of  instantaneous  regeneration  ; 
and,  quoting  Whitefield's  remark  on  the  conversion  of  his 
friend  Seward,  he  exclaimed  :  — "  How  it  could  be,  that  a 
professed  Christian,  who  '  constantly  attended  the  means  of 
grace,'  and  '  was  frequent  in  private  duties,'  did,  all  that 
while,  '  know  nothing  of  Jesus  Christ,'  is  beyond  my  com- 
prehension ;  and  I  am  much  at  a  loss  to  understand  what 
was  that  '  saving,  experimental  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,' 
for  want  of  which  he  could  only  be  reckoned  among  heath- 
ens and  infidels."  —  The  ideas  of  Whitefield  and  his  oppo- 
nents were  now  fairly  drawn  out  and  embattled  against  each 
other,  and  it  was  to  be  decided,  whether  a  truly  spiritual  re- 
ligion should  be  allowed  to  subsist  in  the  church  of  England. 
On  these  vital  points  of  doctrinal  and  practical  religion, 
Whitefield  found  sympathy  among  the  Dissenters.  He  had 
some  pleasing  interviews  with  Watts,  Doddridge,  and  other 
leading  Congregationalists  ;  but,  as  he  preferred  to  labor  in 
the  church  to  which  he  belonged,  and  as  they  werg  afraid 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  51 

that  his  enthusiasm  and  irregularities  would  work  mischief  in 
the  end,  there  was  no  public  cooperation  between  them. 
Watts  cautioned  him  against  giving  heed  to  "impressions," 
supposed,  but  not  proved,  to  be  from  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
warned  him  of  the  danger  of  delusion  and  imprudence,  and 
gave  him  credit  for  sincerity  and  zeal,  but  doubted  his  "  ex- 
traordinary call  to  some  parts  of  his  conduct."  Doddridge 
called  him  a  very  honest  man,  but  weak,  and  "  a  little  in- 
toxicated with  popularity."  His  alliance  with  the  Wesleys 
and  other  Methodists,  who  were  abusing  the  Dissenting 
churches  as  "companies  of  banded  formalists,"  probably  in- 
creased their  willingness  to  let  him  do  good  in  his  own  way, 
without  becoming  responsible  for  him. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Whitefield,  in  these  contro- 
versies and  labors,  was  executing  any  great  plan,  which  he 
had  laid,  for  accomplishing  great  things.  He  was  only 
doing  his  present  duty,  as  the  circumstances  of  each  day  de- 
manded. He  had  come  to  England,  to  receive  priest's 
orders,  and  to  collect  money  for  his  orphan  house.  An  em- 
bargo, caused  by  the  commencement  of  a  war  with  Spain,  un- 
expectedly detained  him,  and  he  was  neither  willing  nor  per- 
mitted to  be  idle.  He  preached  to  a  few  hearers  in  a  private 
room,  or  to  thirty  thousand  on  Kennington  Common  ;  at- 
tended a  litde  prayer  meeting,  gave  advice  to  an  anxious  sin- 
ner, heard  good  advice  from  Watts  and  Doddridge,  or  en- 
gaged in  controversy  with  the  Bishop  of  London,  just  as 
one  occasion  after  another  called  him  to  do.  And  now,  the 
embargo  being  raised,  and  the  care  of  the  colliers  and  some 
other  affairs  being  transferred  to  Wesley,  whom  he  had  in- 
duced to  commence  field-preaching,  this  pastor  of  a  little 
parish  in  Georgia  embarked,  August  14,  1739,  for  Phila- 
delphia, on  his  return  to  the  people  of  his  charge. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Whitefield's  Labors.     His  Preaching  and  success  at  Philadelphia,  at 
New  York,  and  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  Colonies. 

WiMffE FIELD  arrived  at  Philadelphia  early  in  November, 
1739.     Gillies  says,  he  "  was  immediately  invited  to  preach 


52  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

in  the  churches,  to  which  people  of  all  denominations  flocked 
as  in  England."  His  reputation  had  preceded  him,  and 
multitudes,  such  as  no  house  could  contain,  crowded  to  hear 
him.  He  therefore  frequently  preached  in  the  evening,  from 
the  gallery  of  the  Court  house  in  Market  Street.  Every 
word  was  distinctly  heard  on  board  a  shallop  at  the  wharf, 
four  hundred  feet  distant,  and  all  the  intermediate  space  was 
full  of  hearers.  Great  numbers  were  awakened,  not  only  in 
the  various  denominations  of  professed  Christians,  but  among 
those  who  had  wholly  neglected  religion.  At  the  invitation 
of  Mr.  Noble,  his  only  acquaintance  in  that  city,  he  visited 
New  York.  The  Episcopal  commissary  denied  him  the  use 
of  his  church.  Mr.  Pemberton,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  was  the  only  minister  who  admitted  him  to  his  pul- 
pit. Mr.  Pemberton  was  a  native  of  Boston,  and  too  much 
of  a  Puritan  to  be  frightened  at  Whitefield's  doctrine  of  the 
new  birth.  As  the  house  of  worship  could  not  hold  all  that 
desired  to  hear,  Whitefield  preached  several  times  in  the 
fields  ;  but  he  produced  no  very  rem.arkable  effect  in  New 
York,  till  his  visit  in  1764,  though  even  now  some  appear  to 
have  been  added  to  the  church. 

While  at  New  York,  November  16,  he  wrote  :  "  God 
willing,  in  about  seven  months  T  hope  to  see  New  England  in 
my  return  to  Europe.  An  effectual  door  is  there  opened,  and 
no  wonder  that  there  are  many  adversaries.  Shortly  I  ex- 
pect to  suffer  for  my  dear  Master."  And  after  his  return  to 
Philadelphia,  he  wrote,  November  28,  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  P — ; 
"I  have  been  much  concerned  since  I  saw  you,  lest  I  be- 
haved not  with  that  humility  towards  you,  which  is  due  from 
a  babe  to  a  father  in  Christ ;  but  you  know.  Reverend  Sir, 
how  difficult  it  is  to  meet  with  success,  and  not  be  puffed  up 
with  it ;  and  therefore  if  any  such  thing  was  discernible  in 
my  conduct,  oh,  pity  me,  and  pray  to  the  Lord  to  heal  my 
pride.  All  I  can  say  is,  that  I  desire  to  learn  of  Jesus 
Christ  to  be  meek  and  lowly  in  heart ;  but  my  corruptions 
are  so  strong,  and  my  employ  so  dangerous,  that  I  am  some- 
times afraid."  * 

On  this  journey  to  and  from  New  York,  Gillies  informs 
us,  "  he  preached  at  Elizabethtovvn,  Maidenhead,  Abington, 
Neshaminy,  Burlington,  and  New  Brunswick,  in  New  Jersey, 
to  some  thousands  gathered  from  various  parts,  among  whom 

*  Letters,  Vol.  I.  '% 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  53 

there  had  been  a  considerable  awakening  by  the  instrumen- 
tality of  a  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  a  Dutch  minister,  and  Messrs. 
Tennents,  Blair,  and  Rowland.  He  had  also  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  the  venerable  Mr.  Tennent,  as  well  as  his  sons, 
with  Mr.  Dickinson.  It  was  no  less  pleasing  than  strange 
to  him,  to  see  such  gatherings  in  a  foreign  land  ;  ministers 
and  people  shedding  tears  ;  sinners  struck  with  awe  ;  and 
serious  persons,  who  had  been  much  run  down  and  despised, 
filled  with  joy." 

One  of  the  most  important  incidents  of  this  journey  was, 
the  meeting  of  Whitefield  with  Gilbert  Tennent.  Two 
powerful  preachers  could  not  well  resemble  each  other  less  ; 
and  the  great  strength  of  each  lay  in  traits  in  which  the  other 
was  deficient.  In  one  point,  Whitefield  felt  and  recorded 
his  new  friend's  superiority.  He  heard  Tennent  preach. 
"Never  before  heard  I  such  a  searching  sermon.  He  went 
to  the  bottom  indeed,  and  did  not  daub  with  untempered 
mortar.  He  convinced  me,  more  artd  more,  that  we  can 
preach  the  Gospel  of  Christ  no  further  than  we  have  expe- 
rienced the  power  of  it  in  our  hearts.  I  found  what  a  babe 
and  novice  I  was  in  the  things  of  God."  These  men,  hav- 
ing once  met,  could  not  but  be  friends  and  allies  for  life  ; 
and  their  alliance  could  not  fail  to  be  felt  by  thousands. 

Both  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  printers  *  applied  to 
Whitefield  for  sermons  to  publish  ;  and  two  were  printed. 
He  afterwards  had  reason  to  rejoice  in  their  influence. 

The  readiness  which  Whitefield  found  to  aid  him  in  sus- 
taining his  orphan  house,  determined  him  to  travel  by  land 
to  Savannah,  while  his  supplies  and  family  were  sent  on  in  a 

*  The  leading  printer  of  religious  works  at  Philadelphia  at  this  time, 
appears  to  have  been  "B.  Franklin."  In  174J  he  printed  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent's  sermon  on  "  Justification  •, "  at  the  end  of  which  he  advertised,  as 
lately  printed  and  for  sale  by  himself,  Ralph  Erskine's  "  Gospel  Sonnets," 
Fmley's  sermon  on  "  Christ  Triumphing  and  Satan  Raging,"  Whitefield's 
"  Journal  in  New  England,"  "  A  Protestation  to  the  Synod  of  Philadel- 
phia," which  excluded  the  Tennents  and  others,  and  produced  the"  Great 
Schism  ;  "  and  as  in  press,  Gilbert  Tennent's  "  Remarks  "  on  that  Protes- 
tation ;  Watts's  "Psalms,"  and  Alliene's  "Alarm  to  the  Unconverted." 
He  also  printed  Blair's  "Vindication  "  of  himself  and  others  against  the 
charges  in  the  "Protestation"  which  excluded  them  from  the  Synod.  His 
pamphlets  were  printed  with  a  neatness  and  accuracy  not  usual  among  his 
contemporaries.  Franklin  was  too  shrewd  a  calculator  to  lose  the  chance 
of  making  money  by  printing  such  works  as  were  about  to  be  in  demand  ; 
and  his  Ust  of  publications  shows  his  judgment  of  the  turn  which  the  pub- 
lie  mind  was  taking. 

^  5* 


54  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

sloop  purchased  for  him  for  that  purpose.  He  left  Phila- 
delphia with  his  friend  Seward,  and  nearly  twenty  gentle- 
men on  horseback,  for  Chester.  Before  his  arrival,  two 
hundred  more  had  come  to  meet  him.  A  court  was  about 
to  open  at  Chester  ;  but  the  judges  sent  him  word  that  ihey 
would  wait  till  after  the  sermon  which  he  was  expected  to 
preach.  Nearly  a  thousand  people  had  come  from  Phila- 
delphia to  hear  it.  The  audience  was  immense,  and  he  ad- 
dressed them  from  a  platform  erected  for  the  occasion.  At 
Whiteclay  Creek,  *  he  became  acquainted  witii  William 
Tennent,  well  known  for  his  extraordinary  trance,  in  which, 
to  speak  philosophically,  he  continued  to  live  and  think,  but 
as  sensation  was  suspended,  the  external  world  had  no  influ- 
ence upon  his  thoughts,  and  his  mind,  aided,  perhaps,  only 
by  such  divine  influence  as  every  good  man  experiences  in 
health,  formed  to  itself  ideas  of  heaven,  and  its  inhabitants, 
and  its  enjoyments,  which  seemed  to  be  present  realities,  in 
the  midst  of  which  he  was  ;  ideas,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
suppose,  more  vividly  correct  than  any  man  could  form, 
while  under  the  influence  of  the  bodily  senses,  and  distract- 
ed by  earthly  sights  and  sounds  ;  and  showing,  by  actual 
experiment,  into  what  state  that  mind  would  naturally  pass, 
if  released  from  the  body. 

At  Charleston,  Whitefield  could  not  obtain  admittance  to 
St.  Philip's  Church.  The  commissary  was  absent,  and  his 
curate  would  not  open  the  doors  without  his  leave.  But 
Josiah  Smith,  f  the  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church, 
opened  his  pulpit,  and  his  people  received  a  blessing. if  So 
it  w'as  too  at  the  French  church.  On  the  11th  of  January, 
1740,  he  arrived  at  Savannah. 

In  March,  he  again  visited  Charleston.  The  Commissary 
was  now  his  decided  opponent.  He  addressed  Whitefield  a 
letter,  March  17th,  attacking  his  doctrine  of  justification, 
and  challenging  him  to  defend  what  he  had  said  concerning 
the  Bishop  of  London  and  his  clergy.  Whitefield  had  said 
in  his  sermon,  "  Observe,  my  dear  brethren,  the  words  of 
the  article  ;  [the  12th  article  of  the  Church  of  England  ;] 
'  good  works  are  the  fruit  of  faith,'  and  '  follow  after  justifi- 
cation.'    How  can  they  then  precede,  or  be  any  way  the 

*  Not  Whiteley  Creek,  as  slated  by  Gillies  and  copied  by  Philip, 
t  Not  Joseph  Smith,  as  he  is  called  in  the  late  London  edition  of  White- 
field's  Sermons. 

t  Philip's  "  Life  and  Times  of  Whitefield."  « 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  55 

cause  of  it  ?  No,  our  persons  must  be  justified,  before  our 
performances  can  be  accepted."  Commissary  Garden  urged 
in  reply  :  "If  good  works  do  necessarily  spring  out  of  a 
true  and  lively  faith,  and  a  true  and  lively  faith  necessarily 
precedes  justification,  the  consequence  is  plain,  that  good 
works  must  not  only  follow  after,  but  precede  justification 
also."  Whitefield  replied  the  next  day  :  "  I  perceive  that 
you  are  angry  overmuch.  Was  I  never  so  much  inclined  to 
dispute,  I  would  stay  till  the  cool  of  the  day.  Your  letter 
more  and  more  confirms  me,  that  my  charge  against  the 
clergy  is  just  and  reasonable.  It  would  be  endless  to  enter 
into  such  a  private  debate,  as  you,  Reverend  Sir,  seem  de- 
sirous of.  You  have  read  my  sermon  ;  be  pleased  to  read 
it  again  ;  and  if  there  be  any  thing  contrary  to  sound  doc- 
trine, or  the  articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  be  pleased 
to  let  the  public  know  it  from  the  press  ;  and  then  let  the 
world  judge  whether  you  or  my  brethren  the  clergy  have 
been  rashly  slandered."  This  was  all  very  true,  and  just 
what  Garden  deserved  ;  but  it  was  not  very  conciliatory, 
nor  very  decorous,  when  addressed  by  a  young  priest  of  the 
church  of  England  to  his  ecclesiastical  superior.  Garden 
wrote  and  published  six  letters  against  Whitefield.  About 
the  close  of  the  year,  the  Rev.  Andrew  Croswell  wrote  an 
answer  to  these  letters,  in  his  usual  biting  style.  It  was 
published  at  Boston,  with  an  equally  biting  appendix,  which 
Croswell  ascribes  to  one  of  the  Boston  pastors  ;  probably 
meaning  the  Rev.  Joshua  Gee.  *  Garden  had  maintained 
that  good  works,  though  not  the  meritorious  cause,  are  yet 
the  condition  and  means,  of  our  justification.  Croswell 
shows  that  if  this  be  true,  then  it  must  be  that  a  certain 
amount  of  good  works  is  necessary  for  the  justification  of  each 
individual  ;  and  as  the  exact  amount  is  nowhere  recorded, 
and  may  not  be  the  same  in  all  cases,  no  man  can  ever  know 
whether  he  is  justified  or  not.  And  then,  on  this  plan,  "  a 
man  might  attain  one  half,  two  thirds,  three  quarters,  or  ninety- 
nine  hundredths  of  justification  ;"  and,  he  asks,  "What  would 
become  of  a  poor  sinner,  that  should  be  taken  out  of  the 
world  at  that  unhappy  juncture,  wherein  his  justification  was 
so  near  being  effected,  that  there  wanted  but  one  good  wish, 
one  Lord  have  mercy  upon  me  more,  to  complete  it  .''     Shall 

*  Both  the  letters  and  answer  are  preserved  in  the  Old  South  Church 
Library. 


56  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

the  man  be  miserable  for  ever  for  this  defect  ?  Or  shall  he 
be  looked  upon  as  justified,  liiough  he  had  not  quite  worked 
out  his  justification  ?  Or,  lastly,  shall  he  be  doomed  to 
purgatory  for  a  while,  to  satisfy  for  what  was  wanting,  and 
thereby  to  be  made  meet  for  tiie  inheritance  of  the  saints  in 
light  ?  Lastly,  I  would  ask,  what  will  become  of  those 
good  works  which  are  the  overplus,  after  a  man  is  justified  ? 
And  whether  it  be  not  from  this  doctrine,  that  the  Popish 
priests  teach,  that  some  men  may  have  more  good  deeds  than 
they  need  themselves,  and  a  little  to  spare  for  those  that 
want  ?  "  Divines  of  this  day  will  sniile  at  Mr.  Garden's 
argument,  which  rests  on  the  assumption  that  a  man  is  not 
justified  as  soon  as  he  has  faith,  but  only  after  he  has  had 
faith  long  enough  to  do  a  certain,  or  rather,  perhaps,  an  un- 
certain amount  of  good  works. 

While  the  Commissary  was  writing  these  letters  and 
preaching  accordingly,  Whitefield  returned  to  Savannah,  and 
on  the  25th  of  March,  laid  the  first  brick  of  his  orphan 
house,  calling  the  institution  Bethesda,  the  House  of  Mercy. 

It  was  on  the  next  day,  March  26th,  that  Josiah  Smith 
preached  his  celebrated  Sermon  on  "  The  Character, 
Preaching,  &c.,  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  George  Whitefield  "  ;  of 
which  Philip  says,  "  I  do  not  know  of  any  thing  written 
since,  which  defines  and  defends  the  character  of  Whitefield 
better."  Mr.  Smith  sent  a  copy  to  his  friends.  Dr.  Col- 
man  and  Mr.  Cooper,  at  Boston,  who  published  it,  with  a 
commendatory  preface,  dated  June  7,  1740.  The  preface 
concludes  by  bespeaking  the  prayers  of  the  faithful  in  Christ 
Jesus,  not  only  for  Whitefield's  preservation  and  general 
success,  but  "very  particularly,  that  his  purposed  coming 
to  us  may  be  with  as  full  a  blessing  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
as  other  places  have  experienced,  and  much  more  abundant, 
by  the  will  of  God."* 

Whitefield  must  now  go  forth  to  solicit  funds  for  his  or- 
phan house.  Philip  says,  that  Philadelphia  was  the  first 
place  where  he  pleaded  their  cause,  after  commencing  the 
work.  This  is  correct ;  but  he  had  previously  taken  up  a 
collection   in    Smith's   meetinghouse  in  Charleston,  and  re- 

*  The  publication  of  this  sermon  probably  led  to  a  controversy  on  Justi- 
fication, in  the  South  Carolina  Gazette,  fragments  of  which  are  preserved 
in  the  Library  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  at  Worcester.  The 
writers  seem  to  have  been  Mr.  Smith  and  Commissary  Garden. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  57 

ceived  valuable  donations,  both  in  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia. Now  he  set  forth  on  a  journey  of  solicitation. 
The  newspapers  noticed  his  movements,  and  furnish  almost 
a  complete  history  of  his  present  excursion.  The  reflecting 
reader  will  like  to  see  how  his  labors,  character  and  influ- 
ence were  presented  to  the  public  at  the  time. 

The  New  England  Weekly  Journal  of  April  29th,  1740, 
copies  from  a  Philadelphia  paper  of  April  17th  : 

"  The  middle  of  last  month,  the  llev.  Mr.  Whitcfield 
was  at  Charleston,  and  preached  five  times,  and  collected  at 
one  time  upwards  of  £  70  sterling  for  the  benefit  of  the 
orphan  house  in  Georgia  ;  and  on  iSunday  last,  after  ten 
days'  passage  from  Georgia,  he  landed  at  Newcastle,  where 
he  preached  morning  and  evening.  On  Monday  morning  he 
preached  to  about  three  thousand  at  Wilmington,  and  in  the 
evening  arrived  in  this  city.  On  Tuesday  evening  he  preach- 
ed to  about  eight  thousand  on  Society  Hill,  and  preached 
at  the  same  place  yesterday  morning  and  evening."  Then 
follow  his  appointments  daily,  to  April  29ih,  during  which 
time  he  was  to  preach  at  Whitemarsh,  (Jermantown,  Phila- 
delphia, Salem,  N.  J.,  Nesham(5Tiy,  Skippack,  Frederick 
Township,  Amu  ell,  New  Brunswick,  Klizabethtown,  and 
New  York.  May  6,  the  Journal  copied  a  Philadelphia 
notice  of  April  24,  that  he  had  preached  the  Sabbaih  previ- 
ous to  fifteen  thousand  hearers,  and  on  Monday  at  Green- 
wich and  Gloucester  ;  and  that  he  would  return  to  Georgia 
before  visiting  New  England. 

The  Journal  of  May  20  contains  a  letter  from  White- 
field  to  a  friend  in  England,  dated  New  Brunswick,  April 
27.  Of  his  visit  to  Charleston,  he  says  ;  "  A  glorious 
work  was  begun  in  the  hearts  of  the  inhabitants,  and  many 
were  brought  to  cry  out,  What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  .''  A 
fortnight  ago,  after  a  short  passage  of  ten  days,  I  landed  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  have  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  and  hear- 
ing that  my  poor  endeavours  for  promoting  Christ's  kingdom, 
when  here  last,  were  not  altogether  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  I 
cannot  tell  you  how  many  have  come  to  me  laboring  under 
the  deepest  convictions,  and  seemingly  truly  desirous  of 
finding  rest  in  Jesus  Christ.  Several  have  actually  received 
him  into  their  hearts  by  faith,  and  have  not  only  righteousness 
and  peace,  but  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  short,  the  word 
has  run  and  been  much  glorified,  and  many  negroes  also  are 


58  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

in  a  fair  way  of  being  brought  home  to  God.  Young  ones 
I  intend  to  buy,  and  do  not  despair  of  seeing  a  room  full  of 
that  despised  generation,  in  a  short  time,  singing  and  making 
melody  with  grace  in  their  hearts  unto  the  Lord. 

"  An  effectual  door  is  opened  for  preaching  the  everlast- 
ing Gospel,  and  I  daily  receive  fresh  and  most  importunate 
invitations  to  preach  in  all  the  counties  round  about.  God 
is  pleased  to  give  a  great  blessing  to  my  printed  sermons. 
They  are  in  the  hands  of  thousands  in  these  parts,  and  are  a 
means  of  enlightening  and  building  up  many  in  the  most  holy 
faith.  The  clergy,*  I  find,  are  most  offended  at  me.  The 
Commissary  of  Philadelphia,  having  gotten  a  little  stronger 
party  than  when  I  was  here  last,  has  thrown  off  the  mask, 
denied  me  the  pulpit,  and  last  Sunday  preached  up  an  his- 
torical faith  and  justification  by  works.  But  the  people  only 
flock  the  more.  The  power  of  God  is  more  visible  than 
ever  in  our  assemblies,  and  more  and  more  are  convinced 
that  I  preach  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ.  Some  of  the 
bigoted,  self-righteous  Quakers  now  also  begin  to  spit  out  a 
little  of  the  venom  of  the  serpent.  They  cannot  bear  the 
doctrine  of  original  sin,  and  of  an  imputed  righteousness  as 
the  cause  of  our  acceptance  with  God.  I  have  not  yet  met 
with  much  opposition  from  the  Dissenters  ;  but  when  I  come 
to  tell  many  of  them,  ministers  as  well  as  people,  that  they 
hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  that  they  talk  and  preach 
of  justifying  faith,  but  never  felt  it  in  their  hearts,  as  I  am 
persuaded  numbers  of  them  have  not,  then  they  no  doubt 
will  shoot  out  their  arrows,  even  bitter  words." 

A  fortnight  after  this,  the  patrons  of  the  Journal  read  :  — 
"New  Castle,  May  15.  This  evening  Mr.  Whitefield  went 
on  board  his  sloop  here,  in  order  to  sail  for  Georgia.  On 
Sunday  he  preached  twice  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  the  eve- 
ning, when  he  preached  his  farewell  sermon,  it  is  supposed 
he  had  twenty  thousand  hearers.  On  Monday  he  preached 
at  Darby  and  Chester  ;  on  Tuesday,  at  Wilmington  and 
Whiteclay  Creek  ;  on  Wednesday,  twice  at  Nottingham  ;  on 
Thursday,  at  Fog's  Manor  f  and  Newcastle.  The  congre- 
gations were  much  increased  since  his  being  here  last.     The 

*  That  is,  of  the  English  Church. 

i  Faggs  Manor  is  now  the  established  orthography.  In  publications  of 
the  day,  it  is  also  called  Frogg's  Manor,  and  Fork's  Manor.  Gillies  has  it, 
Frogo  Maner. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  59 

presence  of  God  was  much  seen  in  the  assemblies,  espe- 
cially at  Nottingham  and  Fog's  Manor,  where  the  people 
were  under  sucli  deep  soul  distress,  that  their  cries  almost 
drowned  his  voice.  He  has  collected,  in  this  and  the  neigh- 
bouring provinces,  about  .£450  sterhng  for  his  orphans  in 
Georgia." 

He  arrived  at  Savannah,  June  5th,  and,  immediately  after, 
his  labors  with  his  orphans  were  the  means  of  awakening 
many,  and  of  the  conversion  of  some. 

Next  comes  a  notice  of  a  different  character,  in  the  Post- 
boy of  June  23d.  It  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  dated 
Pliiladelphia,  June  5th. 

"  Field  preaching  prevails  with  the  vulgar  here  so  much, 
that  industry,  honest  labor,  and  care  for  iheir  families,  with 
many,  seems  to  be  held  as  sinful,  and  as  a  mark  of  neglect 
for    the  salvation   of   their    souls.      Mr.    Whitefield   and  his 
adherent  ministers  have  infatuated    [the  multitude]  with  the 
doctrines  of  Regeneration,  Free  Grace,  Conversion,  &c., 
after  their  peculiar  way  of  thinking,  as  essential  articles  of 
salvation,    though   inconsistent  with  true  religion,  natural  or 
revealed,  subversive  of  all  order  and   decency,  and  repug- 
nant-to   common   sense.     We   have   daily  instances   of  the 
melancholy  fruits  of  these  sermons.     Many,  naturally  timor- 
ous and  of  weak  minds,  arc  terrified  into  despair,  with  their 
threatening  and   denouncing  eternal  vengeance.      Some  are 
transported  with  passions    which   influence  them  to  believe 
that  they  have  had   the  beatific  vision,  and  immediate  inter- 
course with  him  who  is  invisible.      I  have  informed  you  of 
this,  because  Mr.  Whitefield  intends  for  Boston,  in  the  fall 
or  autumn,  where  I  understand  he  is  impatiently  waited  for. 
I  wish  his  ministry  there  may  not  be  attended  with  the  same 
bad  effects  as  here,  by  diverting  and  disturbing  the  laboring 
people,  who  are   generally  too  much  inclined  to  novelties, 
especially  in  point  of  religion.      He  is  the  more  to  be  guard- 
ed against,  because,  I  can  assure  you,  he  is  qualified  to  sway 
and  keep  the  affections  of  the  multitude." 

The  author  of  this  letter  may  have  been  one  of  White- 
field's  Presbyterian  opponents  ;  but  more  probably  he  was 
an  Episcopalian  ;  or  most  probably,  from  his  evident  theo- 
logical ignorance,  some  purse-proud,  lordly  layman. 

In  the  same  paper,  and  also  in  the  Journal  of  the  next 
day,  was  another  notice,  which  its  relations  to  some  impor- 
tant events  invest  with  unusual  interest :  — 


60  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  Philadelphia,  June  12.  During  the  session  of  the 
Presbyterian  Synod,  which  began  on  the  28th  of  last  month, 
and  continued  to  the  third  instant,  there  were  no  less  than 
fourteen  sermons  preached  on  Society  Hill  to  large  audien- 
ces, by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Tennents,  Mr.  Davenport,  Mr/ 
Rowland,  and  Mr.  Blair  ;  besides  what  were  delivered  at  the 
Presbyterian  and  Baptist  meetings,  and  expoundings  and  ex- 
hortations in  private  houses.  The  alteration  in  the  face  of 
religion  here  is  altogether  surprising.  Never  did  the  people 
show  so  great  a  willingness  to  attend  sermons,  nor  the  preach- 
ers greater  zeal  and  diligence  in  performing  the  duties  of 
their  function.  Religion  is  become  the  subject  of  most  con- 
versations. No  books  are  in  request  but  those  of  piety  and 
devotion  ;  and  instead  of  idle  songs  and  ballads,  the  people 
are  everywhere  entertaining  themselves  with  psalms  and 
hymns  and  spiritual  songs.  All  which,  under  God,  is  owing 
to  the  successful  labors  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield. 

"  On  Sunday  last,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  preach- 
ed four  times  ;  at  seven  in  the  morning  at  Society  Hill,  at 
ten  in  the  Presbyterian  meetinghouse,  at  three  in  the  after- 
noon at  the  Baptist  meetinghouse,  and  at  seven  in  the  even- 
ing on  Society  Hill  again  ;  at  which  last  sermon  it  is  thought 
there  were  near  eight  thousand  people." 

To  understand  the  bearings  of  this  account,  we  must  con- 
sider somewhat  minutely  the  state  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
at  that  time. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Parties  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  —Different  views  of  Regeneration, 
and  controversies  growing  out  of  them.  —  Acts  of  the  Synod  in  1728, 
1737, 1738,  and  1739.  —  Meeting  of  the  Synod  in  1740.  —  Tennent's  Not- 
tingham Sermon.  —  Meeting  of  the  Synod  in  1741.  — The  "Great 
Schism." 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  America,  from  its  very 
commencement,  contained  two  classes  of  men,  whose  views, 
on  some  important  points,  were  in  direct  conflict  with  each 
other.  The  strict  Presbyterians,  from  Scotland  and  Ireland, 
with  few  exceptions,  held  the  sentiments  described  on  a 
preceding  page.     They  insisted  that  all  baptized  persons, 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  61 

not  convicted  of  heresy  or  immorality,  should  be  communi- 
cants ;  and  that  such  persons,  regularly  educated  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  possessing  sufficient  learning,  should  be  regarded 
as  qualified  for  the  ministry.  Regeneration,  they  held  to  be 
necessary  in  order  to  acceptance  with  God,  both  in  partaking 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  in  performing  the  duties  of  the 
ministry  ;  but  a  qualification  not  ascertainable  by  examination, 
and  not  requisite  in  order  to  a  regular  standing  in  the  church, 
or  in  the  sacred  office.  In  short,  they  insisted  that  all  should 
be  regarded  and  treated  as  regenerate,  who  did  not  give  evi- 
dence to  the  contrary  by  manifest  heresy  or  immorality.  The 
other  party  was  composed  of  men  from  New  England,  Eng- 
land, and  Wales,  with  a  few  from  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
They  held  that  regeneration  is  a  change  of  which  evidence 
may  ordinarily  be  found  by  examination  ;  that  those  in  whom 
no  evidence  of  regeneration  can  be  found,  should  be  re- 
garded and  treated  as  unregenerate  ;  and  that  all  such  per- 
sons should  be  excluded  from  the  Lord's  Table,  and  from 
the  ministry.  Most  of  their  controversies  grew  out  of  this 
fundamental  difference,  and  all  were  more  or  less  directly 
related  to  it. 

In  the  Synod  of  1728,  the  Rev.  John  Thompson,  of 
Lewes-town,  in  Delaware,  brought  in  an  overture,  which 
led,  the  next  year,  to  what  is  called  "  The  Adopting  Act,"  j/ 
by  which  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  Cate- 
chisms, &c.  were  adopted  as  the  confession  of  faith  of  the 
church,  and  all  ministers  and  candidates  for  the  ministry 
were  obliged  publicly  to  assent  to  them.  Mr.  Thompson 
was  the  ecclesiastical  leader  of  the  "Old  Side,"  or  Scotch 
and  Irish  party.  His  overture  was  opposed  by  many  of  the 
"New  Side,"  or  New  England  party.  The  Rev.  Jonathan 
Dickinson  wrote  against  it,  admitting  the  utility  of  creeds 
"for  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant,"  and  "for  a  public 
declaration  of  our  religious  sentiments,"  but  opposing  the 
imposition  of  any  human  creed  as  a  test  of  orthodoxy. 
The  act  was  adopted  with  a  qualification,  providing  that  if 
any  minister  or  candidate  should  scruple  to  assent  to  any 
part  of  the  standards,  the  Synod  should  judge  whether  that 
part  was  essential,  so  that  its  denial  implied  heresy  ;  and  if 
not,  the  qualified  assent  should  be  admitted.* 

*  Both  Mr.  Thompson's  Overture  and  Mr.  Dickinson's  Remarks    upon     , 
it  are  preserved  in  the  Old  South  Church  Library. 

<  6 


\ 


62  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

In  1735',  Mr.  Tennent's  overture,  requiring  candidates  for 
the  ministry  to  be  "  examined  diligently  as  to  their  experience 
of  a  work  of  sanctifying  grace  on  their  hearts,"  mentioned 
in  a  preceding  chapter,  was  adopted  unanimously  ;  but,  Dr. 
Miller  informs  us,  it  "became  a  source  of  great  uneasiness 
within  a  few  years  afterwards."* 

In  1738,  the  Synod  enacted,  that  young  men  be  required 
to  produce  a  diploma  from  some  European  or  New  England 
college,  or  be  examined  respecting  their  literature  by  a  com- 
mission of  the  Synod,  and  obtain  a  testimony  of  their  ap- 
probation, before  they  can  be  taken  on  trial  by  any  presby- 
tery. This  brought  matters  rapidly  towards  a  crisis.  The 
elder  Tennent,  who  was  an  excellent  classical  scholar,  had 
erected  a  "log  college  "  at  his  residence  on  the  Neshamony, 
where  he  educated  his  four  sons  and  several  others  for  the 
ministry.  This  was  the  "  New  Side  "  Seminary,  and  has 
since  grown  into  the  College  and  Theological  Seminary  at 
Princeton.  But  several  "  Old  Side  "  leaders  had  their  acade- 
mies too,  and  were  naturally  anxious  to  fill  them  with  stu- 
dents. When  this  act  was  passed,  "  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent 
cried  out,  that  this  was  to  prevent  his  father's  school  from 
training  gracious  men  for  the  ministry."  f  He  foresaw  that 
"Old  Side"  men  would  rule  the  Synod's  commission,  and 
would  be  able  to  reject  all  candidates  not  educated  in  their 
own  schools,  and  all  suspected  of  favoring  "  New  Side  " 
views  of  religion.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  that 
the  act  was  necessary,  in  order  to  prevent  the  introduction 
of  uneducated  men  into  the  ministry. 

This  act  was  also  opposed,  as  an  infringement  on  the 
rights  of  presbyteries,  to  whom,  it  was  contended,  the  great 
Head  of  the  church  has  committed  the  entire  power  of 
licensing  and  ordination.  And  this  brought  up  another  con- 
troversy, which  related  to  the  legislative  power  of  church 
courts.  The  "  Old  Side  "  claimed  the  right  to  enact  rules, 
not  contrary  to  the  laws  of  Christ,  which  would  be  binding 
on  the  conscience,  and  must  be  obeyed  on  pain  of  ecclesias- 
tical censure.  The  "  New  Side  "  contended  that  church 
courts  have  no  legislative  power  whatever  ;  that  they  are 
authorized  only  to  administer  the  laws  that  Christ  has  made  ; 

*  Life  of  Rogers. 

t  Letter  of  the  Synod  to  President  Clap,  of  Yale  College,  quoted  by 
Professor  Hodge,  from  "  Minutes,"  Vol.  HI.,  p.  17. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  63 

and  that  any  additional  rules  that  they  may  enact,  are  mere 
recommendations,  which  every  one  is  bound  to  observe  so 
far  as  he  can  with  a  clear  conscience,  and  not  further.  For 
this,  they  were  charged  with  designing  "  to  overthrow  all 
authority,  and  cast  out  all  order  and  government  out  of  the 
church."  "These  are  the  men,"  said  Mr.  Thompson, 
"  who  profess  so  much  zeal  for  Christ's  kingdom,  and  yet 
are,  by  one  bold  stroke,  attempting  to  strike  the  crown  from 
his  head,  by  divesting  his  officers  and  courts  of  all  governing 
authority."  If  this  bold  sentence  means  any  thing,  it  must 
mean  that  Christ  reigns  over  his  saints  on  earth,  only  in  and 
through  church  officers  and  courts,  so  that  our  allegiance  is 
due  to  them  directly,  and  to  him  only  indirectly,  and  through 
them.  Still,  Thompson  disclaimed  all  legislative  power  in 
the  church  ;  though  he  and  his  party  were,  in  the  judgment 
of  their  opponents,  continually  exercising  it. 

This  act  was  trampled  under  foot  very  soon  after  its 
adoption.  The  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  took  jNIr. 
Jolm  Rowland,  one  of  Tennent's  pupils,  on  trial  in  August, 
without  applying  to  the  Synod's  comniission  for  testimonials, 
licensed  him  in  September,  and  in  September  of  the  next 
year  ordained  him,  and  in  defiance  of  the  censures  of  llie 
Synod,  kept  him  as  a  member  of  their  body,  till  he  was 
regularly  transferred  to  another  presbytery. 

By  another  act,  passed  in  1737  and  modified  in  1738,  and 
again  in  1739,  ministers  and  licentiates  were  prohibited  from 
preaching  in  any  parishes  but  their  own,  when  there  appeared 
to  be  danger  that  their  preaching  would  cause  divisions 
among  the  people.  This  was  regarded  by  the  "  New  Side" 
as  a  device  for  keeping  "gracious"  ministers  from  disturb- 
ing the  stupidly  contented  flocks  of  unconverted  pastors. 
This  act,  like  the  other,  was  pronounced  legislative,  and  was 
disregarded,  wherever  there  was  thought  to  be  a  prospect  of 
saving  souls  by  disregarding  it. 

There  was  also  a  theological  controversy,  the  main  question 
of  which  seems  to  have  been,  w^hether  a  regard  for  the  glory 
of  God,  or  for  our  own  happiness,  ought  to  be  our  ultimate 
principle  of  action.  It  was  brought  before  the  Synod  in 
1738  by  Gilbert  Tennent.  The  Synod  decided,  that  as  our 
own  happiness  can  be  effectually  promoted  only  by  seeking 
the  glory  of  God,  the  two  motives  ought  not  to  be  placed 
in  opposition  to  each  other  ;  and  forbade  both  Tennent  and 


64  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

his  opponent,  the  Rev.  David  Covvell,  to  discuss  the  mat- 
ter publicly.  When  the  minutes  were  read  the  next  year, 
Tennent  attempted  to  revive  the  discussion  ;  but  the  Synod 
refused  to  attend  to  it. 

AH  these  controversies  were  raging,  when  the  Synod 
met  in  1740.  During  this  meeting,  two  papers  were 
read,  which,  as  must  have  been  foreseen,  gave  great  of- 
fence. The  first  was  presented  by  Blair,  of  New  Lon- 
donderry. He  proposed  to  read  it  privately,  at  an  informal 
meeting.  The  Synod  determined  to  hear  it  immediately, 
and  in  public.  The  reason  for  this  decision  is  not  stated. 
Perhaps  it  was  thought  that  Blair  would  not  dare  to  read  in 
public,  such  a  paper  as  his  was  supposed  to  be  ;  or  that  if 
he  should  do  it,  some  advantage  might  be  taken  of  it,  against 
the  "New  Side."  But  Blair  was  not  to  be  thus  defeated. 
He  read  his  paper.  Gilbert  Tennent  then  offered  and  read 
another,  prepared  without  concert  with  Blair,  but  of  kin- 
dred character.  Of  their  contents,  Blair  says:  —  "The 
papers  contained  an  account  of  many  things  which  we  found 
great  fault  with  in  several  members  of  the  Synod.  And 
I  can  truly  say,  for  my  own  part,  that  what  I  aimed  at  was, 
the  faithful  discharge  of  duty,  and  a  conscientious  testimony 
against  those  evils,  for  the  good  of  the  brethren  guilty  of 
them,  and  the  good  of  the  church  ;  and  to  show  the  reason- 
ableness of  encouraging,  rather  than  hindering  of  ministers, 
to  preach  Christ's  gospel  as  they  had  opportunity  through 
the  land  ;  because  I  saw  there  was  evidently  too  much  re- 
missness among  ministers  up  and  down,  and  with  some, 
much  worse  than  bare  remissness  too."*  By  preaching 
"  as  they  had  opportunity,"  he  means,  preaching  in  the 
parishes  of  "Old  Side"  ministers,  without  their  consent. 
Tennent's  paper  charged  a  part  of  the  Synod,  without  nam- 
ing the  men,  with  "unsoundness  in  some  of  the  principal 
doctrines  of  Christianity  that  relate  to  experience  and  prac- 
tice ;  as  particularly  in  the  following  points  :  First,  that  there 
is  no  distinction  between  the  glory  of  God  and  our  happi- 
ness ;  that  self-love  is  the  foundation  of  all  obedience.  These 
doqtines  do,  in  my  opinion,  entirely  overset,  if  true,  all 
supernatural  religion  ;  f  render  regeneration  a  vain  and  need- 

*  Vindication  of  the  Excluded  Brethren.     Old  South  Church  Libary. 

t  For,  if  this  be  true,  regeneration  can  be  nothing  but  giving  a  better 
direction  to  self-love,  by  teaching  the  sinner  a  surer  way  to  gratify  it, 
leaving  him  under  the  dominion  of  the  same  ultimate  principle  of  action 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  65 

less  thing,  and  involve  a  crimson  blasphemy  against  the 
blessed  God,  by  putting  ourselves  upon  a  level  with  him. 
Secondly,  tiiat  there  is  a  certainty  of  salvation  annexed  to 
the  labors  of  natural  men.  This  doctrine,  in  my  opinion, 
supposes  the  greatest  falsehood,  viz.,  that  there  is  a  free  will 
in  man  naturally  to  acceptable  good. — As  these  opinions 
are  contrary  to  the  express  testimony  of  Holy  Scripture, 
our  Confession  of  faith  and  Christian  experience,  they  give 
me  reason  to  suspect,  at  least,  that  those  who  hold  them  are 
rotten-hearted  iiypocrites,  and  utter  strangers  to  the  saving 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  their  own  hearts." 

Though  Blair's  proposal  to  read  his  paper  in  private  had 
been  overruled  by  a  vote  of  the  Synod,  yet,  as  soon  as  the 
papers  were  read,  and  often  afterwards,  he  and  Tennent 
were  severely  blamed  for  bringing  such  charges  in  public. 
They  were  told,  too,  that  if  they  knew  any  ministers  who 
were  guilty  as  set  forth  in  these  papers,  they  ought  to 
have  commenced  processes  against  them  before  their  own 
presbyteries.  This  Blair  otiered  to  do,  if  the  Synod 
thought  it  his  duty  ;  but  neither  the  Synod,  nor  his  presby- 
tery when  the  matter  came  up  there,  would  ever  pass  such 
a  vote.  The  Synod  passed  a  resolution,  solemnly  admonish- 
ing all  the  ministers  within  their  bounds,  "seriously  to  con- 
sider the  weight  of  their  charge,  and  as  they  will  answer  it 
at  the  great  day  of  Christ,  to  take  care  to  approve  them- 
selves to  God  in  the  instances  complained  of;  "  and  recom- 
mending to  the  presbyteries  "to  take  care  of  their  several 
ministers  in  these  particulars." 

At  this  session,  the  act  restraining  the  preaching  of  minis- 
ters out  of  their  own  parishes  was  repealed,  and  a  minute 
was  adopted,  acknowledging  the  existence  of  a  work  of  God 
in  the  land,  and  giving  thanks  for  it  ;  which  shows  that  party 
lines  were  not  yet  so  strongly  drawn  as  they  were  the  next 
year. 

Such  were  the  battles,  from  which  Tennent  and  his  fel- 
lows went  to  Society  Hill,  to  preach  revival  sermons.  Some 
of  the  "  Old  Side  "  asked  the  privilege  of  preaching  there, 
but  were  refused.  They  then  requested  the  privilege  for 
Mr.  Dickinson,  but  this  also  was  refused.     Tennent  justified 

as  before  ;  so  that  he  is  not  a  "  new  man,"  but  only  the  "  old  man,"  grown 
more  expert  in  self-seeking.  Such  a  change  may  be  accovmted  for  on 
natural  principles,  and  therefore  is  not  "  supernatural." 

6* 


QQ  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

the  refusal,  by  saying  that  tlie  platform  on  Society  Hill  had 
been  built  expressly  for  Mr.  Whitefield,  and  they  did  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  depart  from  his  directions  concerning  the 
use  of  it  ;  though  they  would  readily  have  admitted  their 
"Old  Side"  brethren  to  their  own  pulpits. 

Some  may  ask,  how  was  it  possible  that  there  should  be  a 
revival,  while  such  controversies  were  raging  .''  A  consid- 
eration of  the  subjects  of  controversy  will  show,  that  it  was 
very  possible.  The  controversies  related  to  the  doctrines  by 
which,  and  the  liberty  of  action  in  the  use  of  which,  the  re- 
vival was  sustained.  When  Blair  and  the  Tennents  preached, 
they  only  used  the  liberty  and  proclaimed  the  doctrines  for 
which  they  contended  in  the  Synod.  The  controversy, 
therefore,  did  not  divert  their  attention  from  their  great  work 
of  saving  souls.  Yet  it  certainly  did  much  to  embitter  their 
spirits,  and  to  tarnish  the  revival  with  a  large  admixture  of 
human  imperfection. 

It  was  probably  soon  after  this  meeting  of  the  Synod,  that 
Tennent  preached  his  famous  Nottingham  sermon,  on  "  The 
Danger  of  an  Unconverted  Ministry."  To  understand  the 
propriety  of  his  choice  of  a  subject,  and  the  boldness  of  his 
attack,  the  reader  must  remember,  that  a  large  majority  in 
the  Presbyterian  church,  and  many,  if  not  most,  in  New 
England,  held  that  the  ministrations  of  unconverted  men,  if 
neither  heretical  in  doctrine  nor  scandalous  for  immorality, 
were  valid,  and  their  labors  useful.  For  years  afterwards, 
this  doctrine  was  publicly  and  furiously  maintained. 

The  text  was  Mark  vi.  34.  "And  Jesus,  when  he  came 
out,  saw  much  people,  and  was  moved  with  compassion  to- 
wards them  ;  because  they  were  as  sheep  not  having  a  shep- 
herd." "But  what,"  he  exclaimed,  after  a  few  words  of 
introduction,  "was  the  cause  of  this  great  and  compassionate 
commotion  in  the  breast  of  Christ  .'*  It  was  because  he  saw 
much  people  as  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd.  Why,  had 
the  people  then  no  teachers  ?  O,  yes !  They  had  troops 
of  Pharisee  teachers,  that  came  out,  no  doubt,  after  they  had 
been  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel  the  usual  time,  and  according  to 
the  acts,  canons  and  traditions  of  the  Jewish  Church.  But 
notwithstanding  the  great  crowds  of  these  orthodox,  letter- 
learned  and  regular  Pharisees,  our  Lord  laments  the  un- 
happy case  of  that  great  number  of  people,  who,  in  the  days 
of  his  flesh,  had  no  better  guides  ;  because  that  those  were 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  67 

as  good  as  none,  in  many  respects,  in  our  Saviour's  judg- 
ment." He  then  described  the  character  of  "■  the  old  I'iiar- 
isee  teachers,"  the  "most  notorious  branches"  of  whicli  lie 
made  to  be  "pride,  pohcy,  maUce,  ignorance,  covetou-ness, 
and  bigotry  to  human  inventions  in  rehgious  matters."  "  Al- 
though some  of  the  old  Pharisee  shepherds  had  a  very  fair 
and  strict  outside,  yet  they  were  ignorant  of  the  new  birih. 
Witness  Rabbi  Nicodemus,  who  talked  like  a  fool  about  it. 
—  The  old  Pharisees,  for  all  their  long  prayers  and  other 
pious  pretences,  had  their  eyes,  with  Judas,  fixed  upon  the 
bag.  Why,  they  came  into  the  priest's  office  for  a  piece  of 
bread ;  they  took  it  uj)  as  a  trade,  and  therefore  endeavoured 
to  make  the  best  market  of  it  they  could."  His  reasons 
"  why  such  people  who  have  no  better  than  old  Pharisee 
teachers,  are  to  be  pitied,"  are  in  the  same  style.  "•  Natural 
men  have  no  call  of  God  to  the  ministerial  work,  under  the 
gospel  dispensation.  — Remarkable  is  that  saying  of  our  Sa- 
viour, 'Follow  me,  and  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men.' 
See,  our  Lord  will  not  make  men  ministers,  till  they  follow 
him.  Men  that  do  not  follow  Christ,  may  fish  faithfully  for 
a  good  name,  and  for  worldly  pelf;  but  not  for  the  conversion 
of  sinners  to  God.  Is  it  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  they  will 
be  earnestly  concerned  for  others'  salvation,  when  they  slight 
their  own  ?  —  The  apostle  I'aul  thanks  God  for  counting  him 
faithful,  and  putting  him  into  the  ministry  ;  which  plainly  sup- 
poses that  God  Almighty  does  not  send  Pharisees  and  nat- 
ural men  into  the  ministry  ;  for  how  can  these  men  be  faith- 
ful, that  have  no  faiih  ?  It  is  true,  men  may  put  them  into 
the  ministry,  through  unfaithfulness  or  mistake  ;  or  credit  and 
money  may  draw  them  ;  and  the  devil  may  drive  them  into 
it,  knowing,  by  long  experience,  of  what  special  service  they 
may  be  to  his  kingdom  in  that  office  ;  but  God  sends  not  such 
hypocritical  varlets."  To  the  objection,  that  "Judas  was 
sent  by  Christ,"  he  replied  : —  "I  fear  that  the  abuse  of  this 
instance  has  brought  many  Judases  into  the  ministry,  whose 
chief  desire,  like  their  great-grandfather,  is  to  finger  the  pence 
and  carry  the  bag.  But  let  such  hireling,  murderous  hypo- 
crites taice  care  that  they  do  not  feel  the  force  of  a  halter  in 
this  world,  and  aggravated  damnation  in  the  next." 

The  "improvement"  of  this  sermon  was  as  might  be  ex- 
pected. "  if  it  be  so,  that  the  case  of  those  who  have  no 
other  or  no  better  than  Pharisee  teachers,  is  to  be  pitied, 


68  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

then  what  a  scrole  and  scene  of  mourning,  lamentation,  and 
woe  is  opened,  because  of  the  swarms  of  locusts,  the  crowds 
of  Pharisees,  that  have  as  covetously  as  cruelly  crept  into  the 
ministry  in  this  adulterous  generation  I  who  as  nearly  resem- 
ble the  character  given  of  the  old  Pharisees,  in  the  doctrinal 
part  of  this  discourse,  as  one  crow 's  egg  does  another  !  It 
is  true,  some  of  the  modern  Pharisees  have  learned  to  prate 
a  little  more  orthodoxly  about  the  new  birth,  than  their  pre- 
decessor Nicodemus,  who  are,  in  the  mean  time,  as  great 
strangers  to  the  feeling  experience  of  it,  as  he.  They  are 
blind,  who  see  not  this  to  be  the  case  of  the  body  of  the 
clergy  of  this  generation." 

"  From  what  has  been  said,  we  may  learn  that  such  who 
are  contented  under  a  dead  ministry,  have  not  in  them  the 
temper  of  that  Saviour  they  profess.  It  is  an  awful  sign  that 
they  are  as  blind  as  moles  and  as  dead  as  stones,  without  any 
spiritual  taste  and  relish.  And,  alas  !  is  not  this  the  case 
with  multitudes  .''  If  they  can  get  one  that  has  the  name  of  a 
minister,  with  a  band  and  a  black  coat  or  gown  to  carry  on 
Sabbath  days  among  them,  although  never  so  coldly  and  un- 
successfully ;  if  he  is  free  from  gross  crimes  in  practice,  and 
takes  good  care  to  keep  at  a  due  distance  from  their  con- 
sciences, and  is  never  troubled  about  his  unsuccessfulness  ; 
O !  think  the  poor  fools,  that  is  a  fine  man  indeed  ;  our  min- 
ister is  a  prudent,  charitable  man  ;  he  is  not  always  harping 
upon  terror,  and  sounding  damnation  in  our  ears,  like  some 
rash-headed  preachers,  who,  by  their  uncharitable  methods, 
are  ready  to  put  poor  people  out  of  their  wits,  or  run  them 
into  despair." 

But  what  follows,  though  less  violent  in  style,  was  really 
harder  to  bear,  than  all  that  had  gone  before  it.  "If  the 
ministry  of  natural  men  be  as  it  has  been  represented,  then  it 
is  both  lawful  and  expedient  to  go  from  them  to  hear  godly 
persons.  Yea,  it  is  so  far  from  being  sinful  to  do  this,  that 
one  who  lives  under  a  pious  minister  of  lesser  gifts,  after 
having  honestly  endeavoured  to  get  benefit  by  his  ministry, 
and  yet  gets  little  or  none,  but  doth  find  real  benefit  and  more 
benefit  elsewhere  ;  I  say,  he  may  lawfully  go,  and  that  fre- 
quently, where  he  gets  most  good  to  his  precious  soul,  after 
regular  application  to  the  pastor  where  he  lives,  for  his  con- 
sent, and  proposing  the  reasons  thereof ;  when  this  is  done 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  69 

in  the  spirit  of  love  and  meekness,  without  contempt  of  any, 
and  also  without  rash  anger  or  vain  curiosity." 

The  remainder  of  the  sermon,  which  is  nearly  half  of  it,  is 
occupied  in  the  proof  of  this  proposition  ;  and  by  proving  it, 
unanswerably,  Tennent  wounded  his  opponents  more  deeply 
than  by  all  his  reproachful  epithets.  Ministers  whose  char- 
acters connnand  no  respect,  and  who  are  too  ignorant,  too 
stupid,  too  full  of  worldly  cares,  or  too  lazy  to  preach  attrac- 
tive sernions,  very  naturally  feel  their  need  of  a  divine  right 
to  a  certain  number  of  hearers  ;  for  on  what  other  ground 
shall  they  get  audiences  and  support  ?  By  proving  that  God 
does  not  require  men  to  starve  their  own  souls  by  hearing 
such  preachers,  Tennent  ofl'ended  that  whole  class  unpar- 
donably.  And  his  declaration,  that  "the  body  of  the  cler- 
gy "  of  that  generation  were  "as  great  strangers  to  the  feeling 
experience"  of  the  new  birth  as  iSicodemus,  was  unfortunate. 
We  may  reasonably  hope  that  it  was  not  true,  even  of  his 
own  communion,  the  Presbyterian  church  ;  and  it  certainly 
was  impolitic  thus  to  fix  the  number  of  those  whom  he  con- 
demned, and  give  his  enemies  an  opportunity  to  convict  him 
of  hostility  to  the  clergy  in  general  ;  an  advantage  which  they 
were  not  slow  to  seize,  nor  indolent  in  using. 

As  to  the  style  of  the  sermon,  it  would  be  gratifying  to 
say,  that  Tennent  understood  his  audience,  and  knew  what 
language  was  necessary  to  make  them  think  and  feel  as  they 
ought,  better  than  we  do  ;  but  justice  forbids  us  to  leave  the 
matter  thus.  There  is  no  sin  against  which  a  man  like  Ten- 
nent n)ore  needs  to  be  on  his  guard,  than  what  some  call 
"holy  indignation  ;"  and  in  his  circumstances,  how  could  he 
avoid  it .''  Personal  abuse  he  often,  and  so  far  as  history  in- 
forms us,  always,  bore  with  Christian  meekness  ;  but  the 
abuse  of  his  father,  his  brothers,  his  fellow-laborers  in  the 
cause  of  truth,  and,  above  all,  of  the  truth  itself,  and  of  the 
way  of  salvation,  was  a  severer  trial.  That  such  "Pharisee 
teachers  "  as  he  describes  were  in  the  ministry,  polluting  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  leading  souls  to  perdition,  he  saw 
and  knew.  They  claimed  a  right  to  be  there,  and  their 
claims  were  acknowledged  and  defended.  They  bitterly 
opposed  the  revival  of  religion,  and  ridiculed  the  doctrines 
and  defamed  the  men  by  whom  it  was  carried  on.  The 
Synod,  by  its  solemn  acts,  threw  its  influence  in  their  favor, 
and  issued  decrees  which  sustained  them  in  their  opposition 


70  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

to  the  truth.  Faithful  ministers,  their  doctrines,  and  their 
works,  were  industriously  held  up  to  derision  and  contempt, 
as  well  as  odium.  Should  Tennent  suffer  all  this  to  be  done 
without  rebuke  ?  He  felt  that  he  understood  these  men,  and 
could  make  others  understand  them  ;  and  then  their  power  to 
do  mischief  would  he  at  an  end. 

There  is  certainly  force  in  these  considerations.  It  was 
doubtless  Tenneni's  duty  to  write  and  preach  and  print  on 
that  subject ;  and  if  his  sermon  had  been  absolutely  faultless, 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  woukl  have  given  any  less 
offence.  As  it  was,  its  truths  hurt  men's  feelings  more  than 
its  faults.  Yet  he  was  angry,  and  that  we  may  not  justify  ; 
but  let  him  who  would  have  kept  his  temper  better,  cast  the 
first  stone  at  him.  He  overrated  the  number  of  apostates  ; 
but  not  so  much  as  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  to  whom  he  bore  no 
slight  resemblance,  had  done  in  Israel.  And  though  he  spoke 
with  an  anger  that  debased  his  style,  and  wrought  evil,  yet  he 
spoke  truth,  mainly  from  good  motives.  He  spoke  it  in  a 
style  which  he  knew  would  command  attention,  and  cause  it 
to  be  understood  and  remembered.  The  event  answered  his 
expectations.  The  sermon  was  widely  circulated,  and  was 
a  topic  of  discussion  for  years.  Neither  friends  nor  enemies 
would  let  it  rest.  It  turned  the  tide  of  popular  feeling  effect- 
ually against  unconverted  ministers  ;  and  to  no  other  human 
agency,  probably,  so  much  as  to  this  sermon,  is  it  owing, 
that  Presbyterian  ministers  at  the  present  day  are  generally 
pious  men. 

The  doings  of  the  Synod  the  next  year  throw  still  further 
light  on  these  matters,  and  are  introduced  here,  though  out 
of  the  order  of  time,  for  the  sake  of  presenting  this  whole 
subject  in  one  view. 

The  Synod  met  in  1741,  exasperated  by  another  year  of 
clashing  opinions  and  practice  concerning  the  revival  of  re- 
ligion. On  the  first  day  of  June,  a  "protestation,"  signed 
by  twelve  ministers  and  eight  elders,  was  presented,  with  the 
avowed  intention  of  bringing  matters  to  a  crisis.  Its  authors 
protested,  "that  all  our  protesting  brethren,"  that  is,  those 
who  had  signed  certain  former  protests,  "have  at  present  no 
right  to  sit  and  vote  as  members  of  this  Synod,  having  for- 
feited their  right  of  being  accounted  members  of  it,  for  many 
reasons  ;"  and  that  if  they  should  sit  and  vote,  the  doings  of 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  71 

the  Synod   should  be  "of  no  force  or  obligation."     The 
reasons  assigned  are, 

"I.  Their  heterodox  and  anarchical  principles,  expressed"  in  an 
"Apology,"  which  had  been  published  by  the  New  Brunswick  Pres- 
bytery. These  principles  are  enumerated.  Blair,  in  his  "  Vindica- 
tion," already  quoted,  denies  that  they  held  them. 

"  II.  Their  protesting  against  the  Synod's  act  in  relation  to  the  ex- 
amination of  candidates,  together  with  their  proceeding  to  license  and 
ordain  men  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  in  opposition  to,  and  in  con- 
tempt of  said  act  of  Synod. 

"HI.  Their  making  irregular  irruptions  upon  the  congregations  to 
which  they  have  no  immediate  relation,  without  order,  concurrence, 
or  allowance  of  the  Presbyteries  or  ministers  to  which  congregations 
belong  ;  thereby  sowing  the  seeds  of  division  among  the  people,  and 
doing  what  they  can  to  alienate  and  fill  their  minds  with  unjust  preju- 
dices against  their  lawfully  called  pastors. 

"IV.  Their  principles  and  practice  of  rash  judging  and  condemning 
all  who  do  not  fall  in  with  their  measures,  both  ministers  and  people, 
as  carnal,  graceless,  and  enemies  to  God's  work,  and  what  not;  as 
appears  in  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent's  sermon  against  unconverted  minis- 
ters, and  in  his  and  Mr.  Blair's  papers  of  May  last,  which  were  read  in 
open  Synod:  Which  rash  judging  hath  been  the  constant  practice  of 
our  protesting  brethren  and  their  irregular  probationers,  for  above 
these  twelve  months  past,  in  their  disorderly  itinerations  and  preach- 
ing through  our  congregations;  by  which  (alas  for  it!)  most  of  our 
congregations,  through  weakness  and  credulity,  are  so  shattered  and 
divided  and  shaken  in  their  principles,  that  few  or  none  of  us  can  say 
we  enjoy  that  comfort,  or  have  that  success  among  our  people,  which 
otherwise  we  might,  and  which  we  enjoyed  heretofore. 

"V.  Their  industriously  persuading  people  to  believe,  that  the  call 
of  God,  whereby  ho  calls  men  to  the  ministry,  does  not  consist  in  their 
being  regularly  ordained  and  set  apart  to  that  work,  according  to  the 
institution  and  rules  of  the  word ;  but  in  some  invisible  motions  and 
workings  of  the  Spirit,  which  none  can  be  conscious  or  sensible  of  but 
the  person  himself,  and  with  respect  to  which  he  is  liable  to  be  de- 
ceived or  play  the  hypocrite.  That  the  gospel  preached  in  truth  by 
unconverted  ministers,  can  be  of  no  saving  benefit  to  souls ;  and  their 
pointing  out  such  ministers  whom  they  condemn  as  graceless  by  their 
rash  judging  spirit,  thus  eflTectually  carry  the  point  with  the  poor  cred- 
ulous people,  who,  in  imitation  of  their  example,  under  their  patrociny, 
judge  their  ministers  to  be  graceless,  and  forsake  their  ministers  as 
hurtful  rather  than  profitable.* 

"VI.  Their  preaching  the  terrors  of  the  law  in  such  manner  and 
dialect  as  has  no  precedent  in  the  word  of  God,  but  rather  appears  to 
be  borrowed  from  a  worse  dialect;  and  so  industriously  working  on 
the  passions  and  affections  of  weak  minds,  as  to  cause  them  to  cry  out 

*  The  bad  grammar  of  this  sentence  must  be  credited  to  those  very  ac- 
complished scholars,  the  "  Old  Side  "  leaders,  who  have  been  praised  for 
preventing  the  extinction  of  learning  in  the  Presbyterian  church. 


72  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

in  a  hideous  manner,  and  fall  down  in  convulsion-like  fits,  to  the  mar- 
ring' of  the  profiting;  both  of  tliemsclvcs  and  others,  who  are  so  taken 
up  in  seeing  and  hearing  these  odd  symptoms,  that  they  cannot  attend 
to  or  hear  what  the  preacher  says;  and  then,  after  all,  boasting  of 
these  things  as  the  work  of  God,  which  we  are  persuaded  do  proceed 
from  an  inferior  or  worse  cause. 

"VJI.  Their,  or  some  of  them,  preaching  and  maintaining,  that  all 
true  converts  are  as  certain  of  their  gracious  state,  as  a  person  can  be 
of  what  he  knows  by  his  outward  senses;  and  are  able  to  give  a  nar- 
rative of  the  time  and  manner  of  tlieir  conversion,  or  else  they  con- 
clude them  to  be  in  a  natural  or  graceless  state;  and  that  a  gracious 
person  can  judge  of  another's  gracious  state  otherwise  than  by  his  pro- 
fession and  life.  That  people  arc  under  no  sacred  tie  or  relation  to 
their  own  pastors  lawfully  called,  but  may  leave  them  when  they 
please,  and  ought  to  go  where  they  think  they  get  most  good." 

The  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  the  members  of  which 
were  among  the  excluded,  immediately  met,  and  were  joined 
by  several  others  as  corresponding  members.  Before  separ- 
ating, they  adopted  the  following  minute  :  "  Forasmuch  as 
the  ministers  who  have  protested  against  our  being  of  their 
communion,  do  at  least  insinuate  false  reflections  against  us, 
endeavouring  to  make  people  suspect  that  we  are  receding 
from  Presbyterian  principles ;  for  the  satisfaction  of  such 
Christian  people  as  may  be  stumbled  by  such  false  aspersions, 
we  think  it  fit  unanimously  to  declare,  that  we  adhere  as 
closely  and  fully  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Catechisms  and  Directory,  as  the  Synod  of  Philadeli)hia  in 
any  of  their  public  acts."  So  much  for  their  Presbyterian- 
ism  in  profession.  As  to  their  practice,  the  most  serious 
accusation  was,  their  ''irregular  irruptions"  into  the  parishes 
of  other  ministers.  To  this,  Mr.  Blair  replied  :  "  The 
Synod  had,  for  a  year  or  two  before,  laid,  as  we  apprehend, 
an  unreasonable  restraint  upon  ministers  preaching  out  of  the 
bounds  of  their  own  presbyteries  ;  and  we,  in  those  papers, 
[the  papers  read  before  the  Synod  in  1740,]  signified  that 
the  necessity  of  our  preaching  abroad  was  great  and  urgent, 
from  the  soul  exercises  and  strong  desires  of  the  people,  God 
succeeding  his  word  in  an  uncommon  degree,  and  from  the 
manifest  unfaithfulness  of  sundry  ministers,  and  their  great 
opposition  against  the  revival  of  religion.  It  was  a  grief  of 
heart  to  us,  that  we  were  under  any  such  necessity  on  the 
last  mentioned  account.  Our  design,  I  hope,  was  to  attempt 
to  propagate  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  save  the 
souls  of  men  ;  though  we  were  obliged  indeed  frequently  to 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  73 

take  occasion  to  vindicate  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  from  such 
ministers'  and  others'  objections  and  cavils,  and  to  show  the 
necessity  of  ministers'  deahng  searchingly  and  solemnly  with 
their  people.  But  they  could  never  charge  either  of  us,  that 
I  know  of,  with  any  irruptions,  as  they  call  them,  into  their 
proper  congregations,  that  they  could  judicially  censure ; 
though  I  must  observe,  by  the  way,  that  had  they  been  as 
friendly  to  a  work  and  revival  of  religion  as  they  ought  to 
have  been,  they  and  we  both  would  have  mutually  rejoiced 
to  have  had  one  another  to  preach  in  our  several  congrega- 
tions. It  is  a  vain  shift  for  anv  of  them,  in  order  to  clear 
themselves  from  the  charge  of  having  made  an  opposition  to 
the  late  revival  of  religion,  to  say  that  they  have  only  opposed 
things  that  were  evil  and  irregular,  which  ought  to  be  opposed. 
We  have  not  been  wanting  ourselves  to  be  very  careful  this 
way,  as  many  hundreds  can  witness.  But  there  is  a  vast 
difference  between  opposing  what  is  evil,  delusive  and  ir- 
regular, for  the  more  successful  carrying  on  of  a  work  of 
divine  grace,  and  the  improving  of  such  things  by  way  of  re- 
proach upon  it  and  prejudice  against  it.  This  is  a  real  oppo- 
sition to  it  ;  and  this  they  are  chargeable  with.  Yea,  more. 
They  lash  against  all  high  degrees  of  soul-distress  and  terror 
in  convinced  persons,  as  proceeding  from  temptations  of  the 
devil  ;  and  do  lash  and  reproach,  in  unlimited  terms,  as  the 
mere  effects  of  irrational  frights  or  delusive  joys,  all  cryings 
out,  or  bodily  faintings  ;  when  such  things  may  be,  and  in 
numbers  have  been,  the  effects  of  rational,  spiritual,  strong 
exercises  of  the  soul,  from  the  laws  of  the  union  between  the 
soul  and  body,  and  can  only,  at  most,  be  ascribed  to  human 
infirmity,  which  is  such  in  this  present  state,  that  no  man  can 
see  God  and  live.  Yea,  several  of  them  have  openly  and 
plainly  enough  denied  that  any  good  work  more  than  usual 
has  been  going  on,  but  quite  the  contrary." 

Tennent  also  published  a  reply  to  the  statement  of  the 
Synod.*  It  was  written  earlier  than  Blair's,  and  is  less 
systematic  and  complete,  but  takes  substantially  the  same 
grounds.  One  fact  which  he  mentions,  deserves  special  no- 
tice, as  it  appears  to  be  the  earliest  instance  of  one  mode  of 
opposing  the  revival,  which  was  afterwards  somewhat  exten- 
sively used.     "Our  protesting  brethren,"  he  says,  "have 

*  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.  and  Boston  Athenaeum. 
7 


74  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

quite  omitted  any  mention  of  the  late  extraordinary  canon 
framed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Donnegal,  which  ipso  facto  ex- 
communicates, or  deprives  of  church  privileges,  all  of  their 
people  that  go  to  hear  any  of  the  itinerary  preachers."  To 
the  assertion  in  the  fourth  charge  of  the  protest,  that  the 
"rash  judging"  and  itinerancy  of  the  revivalists  had  dimin- 
ished the  comfort  and  success  of  the  protesters  among  their 
people,  he  replied  :  "As  to  comfort,  we  believe  them  ;  but 
respecting  success,  we  thought  it  had  been  much  the  same 
as  formerly  ;  for  truly,  this  is  the  first  tinie  that  we  ever 
heard  of  the  success  of  most  of  them."  He  contends,  that 
when  "a  number  of  the  ministry  are  either  unsound  in  doc- 
trine, or  unfaithful,  or  contentedly  unsuccessful  in  their  work," 
the  ordinary  rules  of  ministerial  intercourse  are  suspended  by 
the  nature  of  the  case,  and  it  is  right  to  preach  the  gospel 
among  their  people  without  their  consent.  The  charge  of 
preaching  that  true  converts  always  know  the  exact  time  of 
their  conversion,  he  expressly  denies.  In  reference  to  the 
papers  read  in  the  Synod  by  him  and  Blair,  he  states  that  he 
offered  to  commence  process  against  individual  members,  if 
the  Synod  thought  it  his  duty. 

By  examining  the  several  charges  of  the  excluding  "pro- 
testation," the  reader  will  see  the  ground  of  the  controversy. 
The  fundamental  question  was,  whether  regeneration  is  a 
change,  attended  and  followed  by  an  experience,  by  which 
the  convert  and  others  can  judge  of  its  reality  ;  and  of  course, 
whether  those  who  have  no  such  experience  are  to  be  counted 
as  unregenerate,  and  therefore  excluded  from  the  communion 
of  the  church,  and  deemed  unfit  for  the  ministry.  The  Ten- 
nents  and  their  friends  maintained  the  affirmative,  and  treated 
all  men,  in  the  church  or  out  of  it,  ministers  and  people,  ac- 
cordingly. The  seventh  and  last  of  these  charges  is  evidently 
a  description  of  this  doctrine,  drawn  by  an  enemy.  It  con- 
demns the  doctrine,  that  one  who  has  felt  the  sanctifying  in- 
fluence of  divine  truth,  can  judge  whether  another  has  felt  the 
same,  by  his  account  of  his  own  views  and  feelings,  or  in  any 
other  way  than  "  by  his  profession  and  his  life  "  ;  that  is,  — 
for  so  those  men  used  those  words, — by  his  creed  and  his 
morals.  Judging  men  who  were  orthodox  and  not  scandal- 
ous in  their  morals  to  be  unconverted,  is  the  "rash  judg- 
ing "  censured  in  their  fourth  reason  for  protesting  ;  and 
"preaching  the  terrors  of  the  law"  so  as  to  alarm  such  men, 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  75 

is  what  they  caricature  and  condemn  in  the  sixth.  The 
fifth  is  intended  to  condemn  the  doctrine  of  Tennent^s  iVot- 
tingham  sermon,  that  an  unconverted  ministry  is  dangerous, 
and  ought  to  be  forsaken  for  a  better  ;  and  to  assert  that  all 
.who  have  been  regularly  ordained  and  not  censured,  have  a 
divine  right,  in  virtue  of  their  office,  to  be  regarded  and 
treated  as  true  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  whether  converted 
or  not.  The  "  irregular  irruptions,"  mentioned  in  the  second 
reason,  consisted  of  preaching  the  gospel,  at  the  request 
of  those  who  wished  to  hear  it,  in  the  parishes  of  opposers 
of  the  revival  ;  of  ministers  supposed  to  be  unconverted, 
and  who  defended  the  supposed  rights  of  unconverted  minis- 
ters. To  crush  the  revival,  many  of  its  most  ardent  and 
active  friends  were  protested  out  of  the  Synod,  and  the 
Presbyterian  church  was  rent  in  twain.  But  the  revival 
went  on,  and  its  good  influences  still  bless  the  land. 

Such  was  the  school  in  which  Tennent  was  trained  for 
his  labors  in  New  England  ;  and  such  was  the  first  acquaint-  ^ 
ance  of  Whitefield  with  American  "Dissenters."  It  was 
natural  that  he  should  anticipate  the  necessity  of  telling  them 
that  they  preached  justifying  faith  without  having  felt  its 
power,  and  should  expect  opposition  in  consequence  of  it. 
These  things  must  be  kept  in  mind,  if  we  would  understand 
the  motives,  conduct  and  influence  of  these  men  in  iVew 
England.  —  But  meanwhile,  where  is  Whitefield  .'' 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Whitefield  at  the  Socth.  —  Scenes  at  the  Orphan  House.  —  Visit  to 
Charleston.  —  Ecclesiastical  prosecution.  —  Conversions  at  and  around 
Charleston.  —  Schools  for  Negroes.  —  The  Bryans. 

Whitefield  arrived  at  Savannah,  from  Pennsylvania,  on 
the  fifth  of  June,  1740  ;  and  his  laboh,  immediately  on  his 
return,  were  the  means  of  a  considerable  awakening  among 
the  few  on  whom  they  were  bestowed.  Of  his  first  reception 
he  says  :  "  Oh  what  a  sweet  meeting  I  had  with  my  dear 
friends  !  What  God  has  prepared  for  me,  I  know  not  ;  but 
surely  I  cannot  well  expect  a  greater  happiness,  till  I  em- 


76  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

brace  the  saints  in  glory.  When  I  parted,  my  heart  was 
ready  to  break  with  sorrow  ;  but  now  it  almost  burst  with 
joy.  Oh  how  did  each,  in  turn,  hang  upon  my  neck,  kiss, 
and  weep  over  me  with  tears  of  joy  !  And  my  own  soul 
was  so  full  of  a  sense  of  God's  love,  when  I  embraced  oi>e 
friend  in  particular,  that  I  thought  I  should  have  expired  in 
the  place.  I  felt  my  soul  so  full  of  a  sense  of  the  divine 
goodness,  that  I  wanted  words  to  express  myself.  Why 
me,  Lord,  — why  me  .'* 

"  When  we  came  to  public  worship,  young  and  old  were 
all  dissolved  in  tears.  After  service,  several  of  my  parish- 
ioners, all  my  family,  and  the  little  children,  returned  home, 
crying  along  the  street,  and  some  could  not  avoid  praying 
very  loud. 

"Being  very  weak  in  body,  I  laid  myself  upon  a  bed  ; 
but,  finding  so  many  in  weeping  condition,  I  rose  and  betook 
myself  to  prayer  again.  But  had  I  not  lifted  up  my  voice 
very  high,  the  groans  and  cries  of  the  children  would  have 
prevented  my  being  heard.  This  continued  for  near  an 
hour ;  till,  at  last,  finding  their  concern  rather  increase  than 
abate,  I  desired  all  to  retire.  Then  some  or  other  might  be 
heard  praying  earnestly  in  every  corner  of  the  house. 

"  It  happened  at  this  very  time  to  thunder  and  lighten, 
which  added  very  much  to  the  solemnity  of  the  night.  Next 
day  the  concern  still  continued,  especially  among  the  girls. 
I  mention  the  orphans  in  particular,  that  their  benefactors 
may  rejoice  in  what  God  is  doing  for  their  souls." 

As  the  result  of  this  awakening,  he  mentions  only  four  or 
five  instances  of  conversion  ;  but  it  was  peculiarly  precious 
to  him,  because  it  occurred  at  the  orphan  house. 

On  the  seventh  of  June  he  wrote  to  a  friend  :  —  "I  have 
brought  w^ith  me  a  Latin  master,  and  on  Monday  laid  the 
foundation,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  for  an  university 
in  Georgia."  Another  extract  from  his  correspondence, 
addressed  to  Mr.  W.  D.  June  28,  should  be  read  in  con- 
nexion with  what  he  wrote  from  New  York,  in  November, 
of  the  danger  of  being  "puffed  up"  by  success.  It  shows 
both  his  need  of  admonition,  and  the  excellent  spirit  in  which 
he  received  it.  He  wrote  :  "  I  thank  you  for  your  kind 
letters  and  friendly  cautions  ;  and  I  trust  I  shall  always  reck- 
on those  my  choicest  friends,  who,  in  simplicity  and  meek- 
ness, tell  me  the  corruptions  of  my  heart.     It  is  that  faith- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  77 

fulness,  which  hath  endeared  J.  S.  to  me.  I  think  I  never 
was  obliged  to  any  one  so  much  before.  For  that  reason, 
also,  I  find  my  heart  knit  to  you.  Oh  my  dear  brother,  still 
continue  faithful  to  my  soul  ;  do  not  hate  me  in  your  heart ; 
in  any  wise  reprove  me.  Exhort  all  my  brethren  to  forgive 
my  past  (I  fear)  too  imperious  carriage  ;  and  let  them  pray 
that  I  may  know  myself  to  be,  what  1  really  am,  less  than 
the  least  of  them  all." — We  have  no  right  to  call  this  an 
affectation  of  humility.  Pie  did  not  mean  to  say,  nor  ex- 
pect to  be  understood  to  say,  that  he  was  "  less  than  the 
least"  of  his  friends  in  eloquence  or  influence  ;  for  he  knew 
that  in  these  he  was  immeasurably  their  superior  ;  but,  filled, 
as  he  then  was,  with  contrition  and  selt'-loathing  for  the  sin 
and  folly  to  which  his  friend  had  called  his  attention,  he  felt 
that  he  was  their  inferior  in  piety  ;  in  that,  compared  with 
which  all  else  is  worthless. 

At  the  close  of  this  month,  Whitefield  again  visited 
Charleston,  where  he  arrived  on  the  third  of  July,  and 
immediately  commenced  preaching,  as  on  former  visits.  On 
the  Sabbath,  July  6th,  he  attended  the  Episcopal  Church, 
where,  he  says  :  "I  heard  the  Commissary  preach  as  vir- 
ulent and  unorthodox,  inconsistent  a  discourse,  as  ever  I 
heard  in  my  life.  His  heart  seemed  full  of  choler  and  re- 
sentment. Out  of  the  abundance  thereof,  he  ))oured  forth 
so  many  bitter  words  against  the  Methodists,  (as  he  called 
them,)  in  general,  and  me  in  particular,  that  several,  who  in- 
tended to  receive  the  sacrament  at  his  hands,  withdrew. 
Never,  I  believe,  was  such  a  preparation  sermon  preached 
before.  —  After  sermon,  he  sent  his  clerk,  to  desire  me  not 
to  come  to  the  sacrament  till  he  had  spoke  with  me.  I  im- 
mediately retired  to  my  lodgings,  rejoicing  that  I  was  ac- 
counted worthy  to  suffer  this  further  degree  of  contempt  for 
my  dear  Lord's  sake."  The  next  day,  the  Commissary  issued 
an  ecclesiastical  writ  against  Whitefield,  which,  as  it  may  be 
a  curiosity  to  American  readers,  it  may  be  well  to  give  entire. 

"  Alexander  Garden,  lawfully  constituted  Commissary  of  the  Right 
Reverend  Father  in  Christ,  Edmund,  by  divine  permission  Lord 
Bishop  of  London,  supported  by  the  royal  authority  underwritten.  — 

"  Alexander  Garden, 

"  To  all  and  singular  clerks  and  literate  persons  whomsoever,  in 
and  throughout  the  whole  province  of  South  Carolina,  wheresoever 
appointed.  Greeting. 

7* 


78  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  To  you,  conjunctly  and  severally,  we  commit,  and  strictly  enjoin- 
ing, command,  that  you  do  cite,  or  cause  to  be  cited,  peremptorily, 
George  Whitefield,  clerk,  and  presbyter  of  the  Church  of  England, 
that  he  lawfully  appear  before  us,  in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Philip, 
Charleston,  and  in  the  judicial  place  of  the  same,  on  Tuesday,  the 
15th  day  of  this  instant  July,  'twixt  the  hours  of  nine  and  ten  in  tlie 
forenoon,  then  and  there  in  justice  to  answer  to  certain  articles,  heads, 
or  interrogatories  which  will  be  objected  and  ministered  unto  him  con- 
cerning the  mere  health  of  liis  soul,  and  the  reformation  and  cor- 
rection of  his  manners  and  excesses,  and  chiefly  for  omitting  to  use 
the  form  of  prayers  prescribed  in  the  Communion  Book  ;  and  further 
to  do  and  receive  what  shall  be  just  in  that  behalf,  on  pain  of  law  and 
contempt.  And  what  you  shall  do  in  the  premises,  you  shall  duly 
certify  us,  together  with  these  presents. 

"Given  under  our  hands  and  seals  of  our  office,  at  Charleston,  tliis 
seventh  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  one  tliousand  seven 
hundred  and  forty." 

The  expression  of  concern  for  the  health  of  Whitefield's 
soul,  appearing  in  this  writ,  is  sufficiently  ludicrous  ;  but  it 
was  a  necessary  formality,  and  Garden  could  not  avoid  it. 
According  to  the  theory  of  English  law,  ecclesiastical  courts 
have  no  right  to  cite  any  person  before  them  for  any  purpose 
but  that  of  promoting  their  spiritual  welfare,  —  the  health 
of  their  souls  ;  and  therefore,  whatever  be  the  object  of  the 
writ,  whether  to  punish  heresy  or  immorality,  or  to  collect 
the  tithe  of  pigs  or  poultry,  this  motive  must  be  set  forth, 
representing  that  the  soul  of  the  person  cited  would  be  en- 
dangered, by  the  omission  or  commission  for  which  he  is 
summoned  to  answer  ;  and  the  particular  offence  must  then 
be  stated.  The  sin  which,  according  to  the  Commissary's 
writ,  endangered  the  health  of  Whitefield's  soul,  was  "omit- 
ting to  use  the  form  of  prayers  prescribed  in  the  Communion 
Book."  The  undisputed  matter  of  fact  was,  that  he  always 
used  that  form,  when  he  could  obtain  an  Episcopal  Church 
to  preach  in  ;  but  when  shut  out  from  such  pulpits,  and 
preaching  to  Baptists,  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists 
in  their  own  houses  of  worship,  where  none  of  the  congrega- 
tion had  prayer  books,  or  knew  how  to  use  them,  and  where 
the  introduction  of  unaccustomed  forms  would  have  diverted 
the  minds  of  the  worshippers,  perhaps  produced  ludicrous 
blunders  and  levity,  and  in  every  way  injured  the  religious 
effect  of  the  whole  service,  he  omitted  that  form,  and 
prayed  extempore. 

On  the  day  when  this  writ  was  issued,  Whitefield  preach- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  79 

ed  for  Mr.  Chanler,  "  a  gracious  Baptist  minister,  about 
fourteen  miles  from  Cliarleston  ;"  and  twice  on  the  next  day 
"to  a  large  audience  in  Mr.  Osgood's  meetinghouse,  a 
young  Independent  minister,"  at  Dorchester  ;  the  next  day 
at  Dorchester  again,  and  at  Charleston  in  the  evening  ;  the 
next  day  preached  and  read  prayers  in  Christ's  Church,  and 
twice  at  Charleston  on  the  next  day,  with  great  success. 
And  now,  on  the  lllh  of  July,  a  citation  was  served  upon 
him,  to  appear  on  the  15th,  as  required  in  the  writ.  On  the 
12th,  he  preached  and  read  prayers  twice  on  John's  Island. 
On  the  1 3th,  which  was  the  Sabbath,  he  heard  the  Com- 
missary again.  He  says  of  the  sermon  ;  "  Had  some  infernal 
spirit  been  sent  to  draw  my  picture,  I  think  it  scarcely 
possible  that  he  could  paint  me  in  more  horrid  colors. 
I  think,  if  ever,  then  was  the  time  that  all  manner  of  evil 
was  spoke  against  me  falsely  for  Christ's  sake.  The  Com- 
missary seemed  to  ransack  church  history  for  instances  of 
enthusiasm  and  abused  grace.  He  drew  a  parallel  between 
me  and  all  the  Oliverians,  Ranters,  Quakers,  French  Proph- 
ets, till  he  came  down  to  a  family  of  Dutartes,  who  lived 
not  many  years  ago  in  South  Carolina,  and  were  guilty  of 
the  most  notorious  incests  and  murders."  It  was  easier  to 
censure  the  Commissary  for  attempting  to  excite  odium 
against  Whitefield  by  comparing  him  to  the  Dutartes,  than 
to  answer  the  argument  that  might  be  drawn  from  the  history 
of  their  errors  and  crimes  ;  for  Whitefield  himself,  at  this 
time,  was  not  wholly  purified  from  that  reliance  upon  impul- 
ses, supposed  to  come  from  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  led 
them  to  their  ruin.* 

*  There  is,  prefixed  to  "  Plain  Address  to  Quakers,  Moravians,  Separa- 
tists," ifec.  by  Robert  Ross,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Stratfield,  Ct.,  pub- 
lished in  17G'2,  and  preserved  in  an  old  "  Vol.  II."  of"  Miscellanies  "  in  the 
Library  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  an  account  of  the  Dutartes,  extracted  from 
a  printed  sermon  of  Mr.  Garden  ;  probably  this  very  sermon.  The  family, 
it  seems,  consisted  of  father,  mother,  four  sons,  and  four  daughters.  They 
received  their  religious  impressions  from  Christian  George,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  a  Moravian.  After  two  or  three  years,  they  withdrew  from  all 
religious  association  with  others,  believing  that  they  alone  had  the  true 
knowledge  of  God,  and  were  taught  by  him  by  signs  and  impulses.  Peter 
Rombert,  who  had  married  the  eldest  daughter,  a  widow,  was  their  proph- 
et, like  unto  Moses,  as  they  thought,  whom  they  were  to  obey  in  all 
things.  He  predicted  the  impending  destruction  of  all  men,  except  that 
holy  family.  He  afterwards  declared,  that  God  commanded  him  to  put 
away  his  wife  and  take  her  younger  sister,  and  predicted,  that  after  the 
destruction  of  the  wicked,  God  would  raise  his  wife's  farmer  husband,  so 


80  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

The  next  day  Wliitcfield  again  preached  twice  ;  and  on 
Tuesday  appeared  before  the  Commissary,  according  to  tlie 
citation.  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  court  of  the 
kind  ever  attempted  in  any  of  the  colonies.  The  parties 
showed  their  want  of  famihariiy  with  such  business,  and,  after 
a  series  of  blunders  on  both  sides,  such  as  an  adept  in  ca- 
non law  could  not  but  laugh  at,  the  court  adjourned  to  nine 
o'clock  the  next  morning,  to  give  Whiiefield  time  to  inform 
himself  of  the  extent  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  and 
his  Commissary.  How  intently  he  studied  the  subject,  may 
be  conjectured  from  the  fact,  that  he  preached  twice  during 
the  remainder  of  the  day.  The  next  day,  a  Mr.  Graham 
appeared  as  a  prosecuting  attorney,  and  Mr.  Rutledge  as 
counsel  for  the  respondent.  Whitefield  made  some  mistakes  ; 
but  hints  from  his  quick-sighted  advocate  and  his  own  adroit- 
ness saved  him  from  their  consequences ;  though  once  he 
was  obliged  to  give  the  court  a  lecture  on  the  meanness  of 
catching  at  a  word  as  soon  as  it  was  out  of  his  mouth,  with- 
out allowing  him  tinie  to  correct  it.  He  now  filed  his  re- 
cusatio  jiidicis^  that  is,  his  objection  against  being  judged  by 
the  Commissary,  who,  he  alleged,  was  prejudiced  against 
him.  This  gave  rise  to  new  questions  ;  the  court  adjourned, 
and  Whitefield  went  to  James'  Island,  read  prayers  and 
preached.      The  next  day  he  appeared  in  court  ;  found  that 

that  the  whole  holy  family  should  be  preserved  entire.  The  father  hesitated  ; 
but  Peter  gave  him  a  sisjn,  that,  on  going  to  another  plantation,  the  first  ani- 
mal that  he  should  see  should  be  such  an  one  as  he  mentioned.     The  sign 
came  to  pass,  and  the  change  was  made  without  further  ceremony.    They 
refused    to   perform    militia  and  highway   duty,  pretending  a  divine  com- 
mand, and  threw  off  all  obedience   to   the   civil  magistrates.    Justice  Sim- 
mons issued  a  writ  for  Judith  Dutarte,  to  answer  concerning  the  child 
which  she   was  e.\pected  to  bear.     By   direction  of  Rombert,  the  family 
armed,  fired  upon  and  defeated  the  constable  and  his  attendants.     Another 
attempt  was  made,  attended  by  the  Justice  and  ten  or  twelve  men.     The 
Dutartes  fired  upon  the  company,  and  killed  Justice  Simmons ;  but  after  a 
battle,  their  doors  were  forced,  one,  Mrs.  Lesard,  was  found  dead,  six  were 
carried  prisoners  to  Charleston,  and  on  the  30th  df  September,  1724,  five 
were  sentenced  to  be  hanged  for  murder.     On  trial,  they  freely  acknowl- 
edged all  the  facts,  declared  that  they  acted  by  divine  command,  and  were 
about  to  die  as  martyrs,  but  should  be  raised  on  the  third  day ;  and.  in  the 
steadfast  profession  of  this  faith,  Dutarte  senior,  Rombert  and  Boineau 
were  executed.    Daniel  and  John  Dutarte,  aged  eighteen  and  twenty  years, 
remained  sullen  till  the  third  day  was  passed,  when,  on  the  failure  of  the 
prophecy,  they  confessed  their  error,  and  were  pardoned.     One  of  them 
af\erwards,  by  pretended  divine  direction,  killed  a  man  with  whom  he  had 
no  quarrel,  and  was  executed  for  it;  but,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Garden, 
who,  as  chaplain,  attended  on  them  all  when  under  sentence,  died  penr 
itent. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING  61 

his  exceptions  were  repelled,  and  that  the  arbitrators  would 
not  be  apj)ointed  ;  appealed  to  the  High  Court  of  Chancery 
at  London,  declaring  all  further  proceedings  in  this  court  to 
be  null  and  void  ;  and  then  read  letters  which  refreshed  his 
spirit,  by  informing  him  "  how  mightily  the  word  of  God 
grew  and  prevailed  "  at  Philadelphia,  and  that  Mr.  Bolton, 
in  Georgia,  had  near  fifty  negroes  learning  to  read. 

The  next  day,  July  18th,  he  preached  twice,  and  on  the 
19th  again  appeared  before  the  Comnjissary,  and  bound  him- 
self, in  a  penalty  of  ten  pounds,  to  prosecute  his  appeal  at 
London  within  twelve  months.  The  appeal  was  never  tried. 
The  dignitaries  at  London  seem  to  have  regarded  the  pros- 
ecution as  a  bad  business,  and  contrived  to  let  it  die  of 
neglect. 

"  The  court  being  ended,"  says  Whitefield,  in  his  jour- 
nal, "  the  Commissary  desired  to  speak  with  me.  I  asked 
him  to  my  lodgings.  He  chose  to  walk  in  a  green  near  the 
church.  His  spirit  was  somewhat  calmer  than  usual  ;  but 
after  an  hour's  conversation,  we  were  as  far  from  agreeing  as 
before."  "All  his  discourse  was  so  inconsistent  and  con- 
trary to  the  gos^jel  of  our  Lord,  that  I  was  obliged  to  tell 
him  that  I  believed  him  to  bean  unconverted  man,  an  enemy 
to  God,  and  of  a  like  spirit  with  the  persecutor  i^aul.  At 
this  he  smiled  ;  and,  after  we  had  walked  a  long  u  hile,  we 
parted,  and  God  gave  me  great  satisfaction  that  1  had  deliv- 
ered my  soul  in  my  private  conversation  with  the  Commisary." 

The  next  day,  July  20ih,  was  the  Sabbath.  The  Com- 
missary preached  in  his  usual  style,  and  Whitefield  preached 
his  farewell  sermon  to  the  people  at  Charleston.  By  his  ad- 
vice, two  or  three  dissenting  ministers  had  set  up  a  weekly 
lecture.  Whitefield  "advised  the  people,  as  the  gospel  was 
not  preached  in  church,  to  go  and  hear  it  in  the  meeting- 
house." On  leaving  the  jilace,  he  sums  up  the  result  of  his 
labors  in  his  journal,  after  this  manner : 

"  W^hat  makes  the  change  more  remarkable  in  Charleston 
people  is,  that  they  seemed  to  me,  at  my  first  coming,  to  be 
a  peo]ile  wholly  devoted  to  pleasure.  One  well  acquainted 
with  their  manners  and  circunistancesj  told  me,  more  had 
been  spent  on  polite  entertainments,  than  the  poor's  rate  came 
to  ;  but  now  the  jewellers  and  dancing-masters  begin  to  cry 
out  that  their  craft  is  in  danger.  A  vast  alteration  is  dis- 
cernible in   the  ladies'   dresses.      And   some,  while  I  have 


82  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

been  speaking,  have  been  so  convinced  of  tlie  sin  of  wearing 
jewels,  that  1  have  seen  them  with  blushes  put  their  hands  to 
their  ears,  and  cover  them  with  their  fans.  But  I  hope  the 
reformation  has  went*  further  than  externals.  Many  moral, 
good  sort  of  men,  who  before  were  settled  on  their  lees,  have 
been  gloriously  awakened  to  seek  after  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
many  a  Lydia's  heart  hath  been  opened  to  receive  the  things 
that  vvere  spoken.  Indeed,  the  word  came  like  a  hammer 
and  a  fire.  And  a  door,  I  believe,  will  be  opened  for  teach- 
ing the  poor  negroes.  Several  of  them  have  done  their  usual 
work  in  less  time,  that  they  might  come  to  hear  me.  Many 
of  their  owners,  who  have  been  awakened,  resolve  to  teach 
them  Christianity.  Had  I  time,  and  proper  schoolmasters,  I 
might  immediately  erect  a  negro  school  in  South  Carolina,  as 
well  as  in  Pennsylvania.  Many  would  willingly  contribute 
bodi  money  and  land." 

"VVhitefield  left  Charleston  on  the  21st  of  July,f  visiting 
and  preaching  on  his  way  homeward.  On  the  23d,  he  ar- 
rived at  Hugh  Bryan's,  at  Good  Hope  ;  the  next  day  he 
went  in  Mr.  Bryan's  boat  to  Beaufort ;  the  next  evening  ar- 
rived at  Savannah,  and  thinking  the  passage  to  be  the  lesson 
for  the  day,  read  and  expounded  what  Paul  says  of  "  Alex- 
ander the  coppersmith,"  which  evidently  reminded  him  of 
Alexander  the  Commissary.  On  the  Sabbath,  several  friends 
from  South  Carolina  were  present,  who  had  come  to  see  the 
orphan  house.  He  felt  exhausted,  and  unable  to  preach  ; 
but  was  persuaded  to  make  the  attempt.  "  I  soon  found 
power  communicated  to  me  from  above.  I  felt  a  sweet  melt- 
ing in  my  soul,  and,  ere  I  had  prayed  long,  Mr.  Bull  dropped 
down  as  though  shot  with  a  gun.  He  soon  got  up,  and  sat 
attentively  to  hear  the  sermon.  The  power  soon  began  to 
spread  abroad  ;  the  greatest  part  of  the  congregation  was 
under  concern."  The  next  day  he  was  sent  for  about  noon 
to  see  Mr.  Jonathan  Bryan,  whom  he  found  "under  great 
concern  and  strong  convictions  of  sin."  After  staying  among 
scenes  like  these  about  two  weeks,  Bull  and  Bryan  went 
home,  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  reconciliation  to  God. 

*  So  it  reads  in  his  original  journal. 

t  His  journal  says,  on  "Monday,  July  22;"  but  Monday  was  the  21st, 
and  not  the  22d  day  of  the  month.  This  erroneous  reckoning  continues 
till  August  3d,  which  is  dated  correctly.  Similar  errors  for  several  days  in 
succession,  sometimes  backwards  and  sometimes  forwards,  are  frequent  in 
this  journal. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  83 

On  the  18th  of  August,  Whitefield  left  Savannah,  and,  on 
arriving  at  Charleston,  found  himself  able  to  preach  only  once 
a  day  ;  but,  as  he  thought,  with  greater  power  and  success 
than  ever  before.  The  Commissary  was  quiet.  Mr.  Rowe 
preached  in  his  stead,  and  told  the  people  that  for  their  sins 
God  had  sent  them  strong  delusions,  that  they  might  believe 
a  lie.  Whitefield's  conscience  would  not  suffer  him  to  attend 
at  the  Episcopal  church,  because  the  gospel  was  not  preached 
there.  Mr.  Bull  and  J.  Bryan  came  to  Charleston  to  see 
him,  and  to  be  "more  established"  in  the  right  way.  "  Mr. 
Hugh  Bryan  they  left  at  home,  drinking  deeply  of  the  cup  of 
God's  consolations.  His  wife  came  with  them  to  Charleston  : 
a  gracious  woman.  By  my  advice  they  returned  home,  with 
a  resolution  to  begin  a  negro  school  for  their  slaves.  A 
young  stage-player,  convinced  when  I  was  last  at  New  York, 
and  who  providentially  came  to  Georgia  when  Mr.  Bryan 
was  there,  is  to  be  their  first  teacher."  We  shall  hear  of 
these  Bryans  again. 

Having  preached  a  farewell  sermon  to  four  thousand  hear- 
ers, Whitefield  sailed  for  New  England. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

WHITEFIELD'S  FIRST  VISIT  TO  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  religious  state  of  New  England  was  most  favorable 
to  Whitefield's  success.  Local  revivals  were  already  in  pro- 
gress, and  were  multiplying  ;  and  there  had  been  throughout 
the  land  for  several  years,  and  especially  since  the  "surpris- 
ing conversions  "  at  Northampton,  an  increasing  sense  of  stu- 
pidity, which  is  a  very  different  thing  from  increasing  stupidity. 
He  had  been  invited  to  come,  by  several  of  the  most  eminent 
ministers  and  laymen  ;  his  arrival  had  been  for  some  time 
impatiently  expected,  and  there  was  a  general  impression  on 
men's  minds,  that  his  coming  would  be  followed  by  a  great 
revival  of  religion.  There  is  even  reason  to  suspect,  that 
the  manifestation  of  a  revival,  which  was  already  secretly  at 
work  in  men's  hearts,  was  kept  back  for  several  months,  by 
the  general  feeling,  that  it  would  take  place  when  Whitefield 


&i  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

came,  and  not  before.  In  short,  New  England  was  ready 
and  waiting  to  be  moved  by  him.  The  account  of  his  labors 
shall  be  given  on  his  own  authority.* 

He  arrived  at  Newport,  September  14.  It  was  the 
Sabbath.  "I  think  it  the  most  pleasant  entrance  I  ever  yet 
saw.  Almost  all  the  morning  the  wind  was  contrary  ;  but  I 
found  a  very  strong  inclination  to  pray  that  we  might  arrive 
lime  enough  to  be  present  at  public  worship.  Once  I  called 
the  people,  but  something  prevented  their  coming.  At  last, 
finding  my  impression  increase  upon  me,  I  desired  their  at- 
tendance immediately.  They  came,  with  a  strong  assurance 
we  should  be  heard.  We  prayed  the  Lord,  that  he  might 
turn  the  wind,  that  we  might  give  him  thanks  in  the  great 
congregation,  and  also  that  he  would  send  such  to  us  as  he 
would  have  us  to  converse  with,  and  who  might  show  us  a 
lodging.  Though  the  wind  was  ahead  when  we  began,  yet 
when  we  had  done  praying  and  came  up  out  of  the  cabin,  it 
was  quite  fair.  With  a  gentle  gale  we  sailed  most  pleasantly 
into  the  harbour,  got  into  public  worship  before  they  had 
finished  the  Psalms,  and  sat,  as  I  thought,  undiscovered. 
After  service  was  over,  a  gentleman  asked  me  if  my  name 
was  not  Whitefield.  I  told  him,  yes.  He  then  desired  me 
to  go  to  his  house,  and  he  would  take  care  to  provide  lodg- 
ings and  necessaries  for  me  and  my  friends.  I  went,  silently 
admiring  God's  goodness  in  answering  my  prayers  so  mi- 
nutely. Several  gentlemen  of  the  town  soon  came  to  pay 
their  respects  to  me,  among  whom  was  one  Mr.  Clapp,  an 
aged  dissenting  minister,  but  the  most  venerable  man  I  ever 
saw  in  my  life.  He  looked  like  a  good  old  Puritan,  and 
gave  me  an  idea  of  what  stamp  those  men  were  who  first 
settled  New  England.  His  countenance  was  very  heavenly. 
He  rejoiced  much  in  spirit  at  the  sight  of  me,  and  prayed 
most  affectionately  for  a  blessing  on  my  coming  to  New 
England."    In  the  evening,  in  company  with  Mr.  Clapp  and 

*  A  large  p?.rt  of  it  is  in  his  own  words,  as  indicated  by  marks  of  quota- 
tion; and  in  such  parts  as  are  abridged,  his  phraseology  has  been  retained 
as  far  as  practicable.  The  account  is  taken  from  his  original  Journal,  pub- 
lished soon  after  his  visit,  and  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  Athenaeum. 
Some  may  think  that  the  writer  should  have  followed  his  revised  Journal ; 
but  that  would  have  shown  what  Whitefield  approTed  some  years  after- 
wards, and  not  what  he  loas,  at  the  time  of  his  first  visit.  And  justice  to 
his  opponents  requires  that  passages  in  his  original  Journal,  which  were 
among  the  causes  of  their  opposition,  should  appear. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  85 

Others,  he  visited  Mr.  Honeyman,  the  minister  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  requested  the  use  of  his  pulpit.  Honeynnan 
hesitated,  and  asked  him  what  extraordinary  call  he  had  to 
preach  on  week  days,  which  was  disorderly.  Whitefield 
told  him,  none,  but  the  apostolic  injunction,  "  As  we  have 
opportunity,  let  us  do  good  to  all  men."  After  consultation, 
Honeyman  told  Whitefield,  that  if  his  preaching  would  pro- 
mote the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  souls,  he  was  wel- 
come to  use  his  church  as  often  as  he  would,  during  his  stay 
in  town.  Whitefield  then  agreed  to  use  it  at  ten  in  the  morn- 
ing and  three  in  the  afternoon.  After  a  short  visit  to  the 
governor,  whose  plainness  pleased  him,  he  went  to  the  house 
of  Mr.  Bowers,  the  man  who  first  addressed  him  when  corn- 
ing out  of  church.  The  house  was  soon  filled  with  company. 
He  expounded  and  prayed  about  an  hour,  and  then  retired 
to  his  lodgings.      Such  was  his  first  day  in  New  England. 

The  next  day  he  breakfasted  with  Mr.  Clapp,  read  prayers 
and  preached  according  to  his  appointment,  to  some  three 
thousand  hearers,  great  numbers  of  whom  were  affected. 
After  evening  service  he  received  the  following  letter,  dated 
that  day  at  Newport. 

"  Reverend  Sir  and  beloved  Brother, 

"  Although  mine  eyes  never  saw  your  face  before  this  day,  yet 
my  heart  and  soul  have  been  united  to  you  in  love  by  the  bond  of  the 
Spirit.  I  have  longed  and  expected  to  see  you  for  many  months  past. 
Blessed  be  God,  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  joyful  day.  I  trust,  through 
grace,  I  have  some  tilings  to  communicate  to  you,  that  will  make  your 
heart  glad.  I  shall  omit  writing  any  thing,  and  only  hereby  present 
my  hearty  love,  and  let  you  know  that  I  am  waiting  now  at  the  post  of 
your  door  for  admission.  Though  I  am  unworthy,  my  Lord  is  worthy, 
in  whose  name  I  trust  1  come.     I  am,  your  unworthy  brother, 

Jonathan  Barber." 

"On  reading  it,  I  could  not  but  think  this  was  one  of  those 
young  ministers  whom  God  had  lately  made  use  of  in  such  a 
remarkable  manner  at  the  east  end  of  Long  Island.  I  sent 
for  him,  and  found  he  was  the  man.  My  heart  rejoiced.  We 
walked  out,  and  took  sweet  counsel  together ;  and  amongst 
other  things,  he  told  me  that  he  came  to  Rhode  Island 
under  a  full  conviction  that  he  should  see  me  there,  and  had 
been  waiting  for  me  eight  days  ;  for,  he  said,  these  words 
were  mightily  impressed  upon  his  heart :  '  Is  not  Aaron  the 
Levite  thy  brother .''  I  know  that  he  can  speak  well,  and  also 

8 


86  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

he  Cometh  forth  to  meet  thee,  and  when  he  seeth  thee  he  will 
be  glad  in  his  heart ;  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  with 
his  mouth,  and  will  teach  you  what  ye  shall  do.'  What  ren- 
dered this  the  more  remarkable  was,  1  had  no  intention  of 
sailing  into  Rhode  Island  till  about  three  days  before  I  left 
CaroHna ;  and  also,  I  had  a  great  desire  to  put  in,  if  I  could, 
at  the  east  end  of  Long  Island,  to  see  this  very  person,  whom 
the  great  God  now  brought  unto  me.  Lord,  accept  our 
thanks,  sanctify  our  meeting,  and  teach  us  both  what  we  shall 
do,  for  thine  own  name's  sake."  In  the  evening,  he  exhort- 
ed a  great  multitude  at  Mr.  Clapp's,  who  dismissed  him  with 
his  blessing.  The  next  day,  he  felt  "a  little  low  in  the 
morning,  but  was  enabled  to  read  prayers,  and  preach  with 
much  flame,  clearness,  and  power,"  and  to  larger  audiences 
than  on  the  previous  day.  The  legislature  adjourned,  that 
its  members  might  hear  him.  He  received  several  invita- 
tions to  visit  other  places,  and  the  Newport  people  made  him 
promise,  by  divine  permission,  to  visit  them  on  his  return 
from  Boston.  His  hearers  were  attentive,  and  many  wept. 
In  the  afternoon,  he  conversed  and  prayed  with  several  who 
were  affected  by  his  labors.  In  the  evening,  he  says,  "I 
went,  as  I  thought,  privately,  to  a  friend's  house  ;  but  the 
people  were  so  eager  after  the  word,  that  in  a  short  time  I 
believe  more  than  a  thousand  were  before  the  door,  besides 
those  that  were  within,  and  filled  every  room  in  the  house. 
I  therefore  stood  upon  the  threshold  and  spoke  for  near  an 
hour  on  these  words  :  '  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled.'  Blessed 
be  God,  it  was  a  very  solemn  meeting.  Being  night,  I  could 
not  see  how  the  hearers  were  affected,  but  the  Lord  assisted 
me  in  speaking."  He  then  called  to  take  leave  of  Mr.  Hon- 
eyman,  "  and  had  some  close  talk  with  him  about  the  new 
birth." 

He  thought  Rhode  Island  a  place  where  much  good  might 
be  done.  The  people  were  sadly  divided  among  themselves. 
The  established  church  (Episcopal)  he  found  in  good  order 
as  to  externals,  but  many  of  the  head  members  were  exceed- 
ing great  bigots.  Nor  was  it  much  better  in  the  other  com- 
munions. "  All,  I  fear,  place  the  kingdom  of  God  too  much 
in  meats  and  drinks,  and  have  an  ill  name  abroad  for  running 
of  goods."  He  said  to  them  one  day  in  his  sermon,  "  What 
will  become  of  you,  who  cheat  the  king  of  his  taxes  .''  "    This 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  87 

made  them  all  look  at  each  other,  like  men  conscious  of  their 
own  and  each  other's  guilt. 

On  Wednesday  he  left  ISewport.  About  noon,  he  preached 
at  Bristol,  at  the  request  of  the  court,  which  was  in  session 
there.  At  eight  o'clock  on  Thursday  evening,  he  was  met, 
about  four  miles  from  Boston,  by  the  governor's  son,  several 
other  gentlemen,  and  one  or  two  ministers,  who  were  at  a 
gentleman's  house,  waiting  for  him.  A  large  funeral,  and 
some  uncertainty  as  to  his  arrival,  prevented  a  more  numer- 
ous attendance.  He  was  conducted  into  Boston,  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Staniford,  brother-in-law  to  Dr.  Colman,  who 
had  invited  him  to  be  his  guest.  His  heart  was  low,  and  his 
body  weak  ;  but  at  the  request  of  several  ministers,  and  other 
gentlemen  who  called  upon  him,  he  led  their  united  devotions 
in  thanksgiving  for  his  safe  arrival,  and  prayer  for  a  blessing 
on  his  labors. 

He  slept  well  that  night,  and  the  next  morning  "perceived 
fresh  emanations  of  divine  light  break  in  upon  and  refresh" 
his  "soul."     Several  ministers  and  others  visited  him  ;  among 
whom  was  Josiah  Willard,  Esq.,  secretary  of  the  province, 
a  man  fearing  God,   with  whom  he  had  corresponded  for 
some  time.      The  governor.  Belcher,  received  him  with  the 
utmost  respect,  and  requested  frequent  visits.     He  attended 
public  worship  at  the  Church  of  England,  and  waited  on  the 
Commissary  home,  who  received  him  very  courteously.    As 
it  was  a  'day  on  which  that  clergy  met,  he  saw  five  of  them 
together.     One  of  them   began  with  him,  "for  calling  that 
Tennent  and  his  brethren  faithful  ministers  of  Christ."     He 
answered,  that  he  believed  they  were.      They  questioned  the 
validity  of  Presbyterian  ordination,    and    quoted,   from   his 
journal,  his  own  words  against  him.     He  replied,  that  per- 
haps his  sentiments  were  altered.      "  And   is  Mr.   Wesley 
altered   in  his   sentiments  too,   said  one ;   for  he  was  very 
strenuous  for  the  church  and  against  all  other  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, when  he  was  at  Boston.     I  answered,  he  was  then 
a  great  bigot ;  but  God  had  since  enlarged  his  heart,  and  I 
believed  he  was  like  minded  with  me,  as  to  this  particular." 
They  then  went  into  a  doctrinal  discussion,  which  continued 
till  Whitefield,  finding  how  inconsistent  they  were,  took  his 
leave,  resolving  that  they  should  not  have  the  opportunity  of 
denying  him  their  pulpits.      However,  they  treated  him  with 
more  civility  than  any  clergymen  of  his  own  church  had  done 
for  a  long  while. 


88  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

In  the  afternoon,  he  preached  to  about  four  thousand 
people  in  Dr.  Cohnan's  meetinghouse,  (Brattle  Street,)  and, 
as  he  was  told,  with  great  success.  In  the  evening,  he  ex- 
horted and  prayed  with  such  as  came  to  his  lodgings.  The 
next  day,  he  j)reached  in  Dr.  Sewall's  meelinghouse,  (the  Old 
South,)  to  about  six  thousand'  hearers  ;  afterwards,  on  the 
Common,  to  about  eight  thousand,  and  at  night  to  a  thronged 
company  at  his  own  lodgings. 

On  Sabbath  morning  he  heard  Dr.  Colman  ;  in  the  after- 
noon preached  "to  a  very  thronged  auditory,  and  with  great 
and  visible  effect,  at  Mr.  Foxcroft's  meetinghouse."  Fox- 
croft  was  senior  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  now  in  Chaun- 
cy  Place.  The  Rev.  Charles  Chauncy  was  his  colleague. 
The  house  was  in  Cornhill  Square,  not  far  from  tiie  Old 
State  House,  and  was  usually  called  the  "Old  Brick." 
Immediately  after  the  sermon  he  preached  on  the  Common, 
to  about  fifteen  thousand  ;  and  again  at  his  lodging,  as  usual, 
to  a  greater  company  than  before.  "  Some  afterwards  came 
up  into  my  room.  I  felt  much  of  the  divine  presence  in 
my  own  soul,  and  though  hoarse,  was  enabled  to  speak  with 
much  power,  and  could  have  spoke,  I  believe,  till  mid- 
night." 

Monday  morning,  he  preached  at  Mr.  Webb's  meeting- 
house, the  '■'■^ew  North,"  at  the  corner  of  Clark  and  Hano- 
ver Streets.  He  says,  there  were  "  about  six  thousand 
hearers  in  the  house,  besides  great  numbers  standing  about 
the  doors  ; "  but  the  house  certainly  could  not  contain  more 
hearers  than  the  Old  South.     "  The  presence  of  the  Lord 

*  Whitefield  was  esteemed,  in  his  day,  a  good  judge  of  numbers.  His 
estimates  of  his  hearers  were  generally  received  by  his  contemporaries.  It 
does  not  appear  that  even  his  enemies  ever  accused  him  of  exaggeration 
in  this  respect.  Yet  these  statements  are  incredible.  The  Old  South 
meetinghouse  is  still  standing,  and,  wiih  its  present  arrangement  of  seats, 
will  accommodate  a  larger  audience  than  when  Whitefield  preached  in  it. 
According  to  Dickinson's  Boston  Almanac  for  1837,  a  work  of  uncommon 
accuracy,  it  has  seats,  including  the  upper  gallery,  for  twelve  hundred  and 
sixteen  persons.  With  the  closest  "  packing  "  of  pews,  aisles,  porches,  and 
stair-cases,  and  including  all  who  could  hear  his  powerful  voice  through 
the  windows,  his  hearers  must  have  been  less  than  three  thousand.  Prince, 
a  very  safe  man  in  such  matters,  estimated  Whitefield's  first  audience  at 
Brattle  Street,  at  two  or  three  thousand.  Whitefield  estimated  the  hearers 
of  his  farewell  sermon  on  Boston  Common,  at  thirty  thousand.  One  of 
the  newspapers  of  the  day  estimates  it  at  twenty-three  thousand,  which,  as 
twenty-three  is  not  a  round  number,  was  probably  the  result  of  an  attempt 
at  computation.  His  estimates,  therefore,  though  usually  adopted  by  his- 
torians without  questioning,  and  though  given,  for  want  of  others,  in  this 
work,  must  be  taken  with  considerable  abatement. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  89 

was  amongst  them.  Look  where  I  would  around  me,  visible 
impressions  were  made  upon  the  auditory.  Most  wept  for 
a  considerable  time."  Webb  was  one  of  the  most  efficient 
promoters  of  the  revival,  and  no  church  shared  more  largely 
in  its  blessings  than  this.  Whitefield  afterwards  saw  still 
greater  things  in  this  house.  In  the  afternoon,  he  went  to 
preach  at  Mr.  C'heckley's,  in  Summer  Street  ;"  but  God 
was  pleased  to  humble  us  by  a  very  awful  providence.  For 
when  the  meetinghouse  was  filled  with  people,  though  there 
was  no  real  danger,  on  a  sudden  the  people  were  all  in  an 
uproar,  and  so  unaccountably  surprised,  that  some  threw 
themselves  out  of  the  windows,  others  threw  themselves  out 
of  the  galleries,  and  others  trampled  upon  one  another,  so  that 
some  were  actually  killed,  and  others  dangerously  wounded.* 
I  happened  to  come  in  the  midst  of  the  uproar,  and  saw  two 
or  three  lying  on  the  ground  in  a  pitiable  condition.  God 
was  pleased  to  give  me  presence  of  mind,  so  that  I  gave 
notice,  I  would  immediately  preach  in  the  Common.  The 
weather  was  wet,  but  above  eight  thousand  followed  into  the 
fields." 

The  next  morning,  he  visited  Mr.  Walter,  at  Roxbury. 
Mr.  Walter  had  been  the  colleague  and  was  the  successor 
of  Eliot,  "  the  apostle  of  the  Indians."  Those  two  men 
had  been  pastors  of  that  church  one  hundred  and  six  years. 
Whitefield  was  much  pleased  with  hirn,  and  Walter  was  glad 
to  hear,  that  Whitefield  called  man  "  half  a  devil,  and  half  a 
beast."  He  preached  that  forenoon  at  Mr.  Gee's  meeting- 
house, f  "but  not  to  a  very  crowded  auditory,"  because 
the  people  were  in  doubt  where  he  would  preach.  He 
"preached  in  the  afternoon  at  Dr.  Sewall's,  to  a  thronged 
auditory,"  and  exhorted  and  prayed  as  usual  at  his  lodgings  ; 
at  neither  place  without  effect. | 

The  next  day,  he  visited  Cambridge,  "  the  chief  College 
for  training  up  the  sons  of  the  prophets  in  all  New  England." 

*  Philip  quotes,  probably  from  the  revised  journal,  "  five  were  actuallj 
killed,  and  many  dangerously  wounded." 

t  The  "  Old  North,"  in  the  North  Square,  formerly  under  the  pastoral 
care  of  Cotton  Mather.  The  house  was  taken  down  and  burned  for  fuel 
by  the  British  army,  during  the  siege  of  Boston  in  1776.  The  church  was 
united  with  that  at  the  "  New  Brick  "  in  1779,  and  called  the  "Second 
Church." 

t  Philip  says,  erroneously,  that  he  preached  twice  at  Gee's,  "  to  im- 
mense audiences." 

8* 


90  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

As  his  record  of  this  visit  produced  important  effects,  it 
must  be  given  entire.  "  It  has  one  President,  four  tutors, 
upwards  of  one  hundred  students.  It  is  scarce  as  big  as  one 
of  our  least  colleges  at  Oxford  ;  and,  as  far  as  I  could  gath- 
er from  some  who  well  knew  the  state  of  it,  not  far  superior 
to  our  universities  in  piety  and  true  godliness.  Tutors  ne- 
glect to  pray  with  and  examine  the  hearts  of  their  pupils. 
Discipline  is  at  a  low  ebb.  Bad  books  are  become  fashion- 
able among  them.  Tillotson  and  Clark  are  read,  instead  of 
Sheppard,  Stoddard,  and  such  like  evangelical  WTiters  ;  and 
therefore  I  chose  to  preach  from  those  words,  —  '  We  are 
not  as  many,  who  corrupt  the  word  of  God ; '  and,  in  the 
conclusion  of  my  sermon,  I  made  a  close  application  to 
tutors  and  students.  A  great  number  of  neighbouring  minis- 
ters attended,  as  indeed  they  do  at  all  other  times,  and  God 
gave  me  great  freedom  and  boldness  of  speech.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  College  and  minister  of  the  parish  treated  me 
very  civilly.  In  the  afternoon  I  preached  again  in  the  Col- 
lege yard,  with  particular  application  to  the  students.  I  be- 
lieve there  were  seven  thousand  hearers.  The  Holy  Spirit 
melted  many  hearts.  The  word  was  attended  with  a  mani- 
fest power  ;  and  a  minister  soon  after  wrote  to  me,  that  he 
believed  one  of  his  daughters  was  savingly  wrought  upon  at 
the  time." 

On  Thursday,  he  preached  the  weekly  lecture  at  the 
First  Church  ;  but,  he  says,  "  was  so  oppressed  with  such  a 
sense  of  my  base  ingratitude  to  my  dearest  Saviour,  that  Sa- 
tan would  fain  have  tempted  me  to  hold  my  tongue,  and  not 
invite  poor  sinners  to  Jesus  Christ,  because  I  was  so  great 
a  sinner  myself.  But  God  enabled  me  to  withstand  the 
temptation  ;  and  since  Jesus  Christ  had  shown  such  mercy 
to  me,  and  did  not  withdraw  his  Holy  Spirit  from  me,  the 
chief  of  sinners,  I  was  enabled  the  more  feelingly  to  talk  of 
his  love."  This  explanation  of  the  workings  of  his  own 
mind  is  as  full  of  sound  philosophy,  as  it  is  of  deep  and 
fervent  piety.  By  such  views  of  his  own  vileness,  he  was 
enabled  to  gain  those  views  of  the  love  of  God,  which  were 
one  principal  element  of  his  power  over  his  hearers.  That 
day,  he  and  most  of  the  Boston  pastors  dined  with  the  Gov- 
ernor. "  Before  dinner,  the  Governor  sent  for  me  up  into 
his  chamber.  He  wept,  wished  me  good  success  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  and  recommended  himself,  ministers  and 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  91 

people,  to  my  prayers.  Immediately  after  dinner,  at  the 
Governor's  motion,  I  prayed  explicitly  for  them  all  ;  went 
in  his  coach  to  the  end  of  the  town,  but  had  such  a  sense  of 
my  vileness  upon  my  soul,  that  I  wondered  people  did  not 
stone  me."  He  preached  at  Charlestown.  "  A  gracious 
melting  was  discernible  through  the  whole  congregation,  and 
I  perceived  much  freedom  and  sweetness  in  my  own  soul, 
though  the  damp  I  felt  in  the  morning  was  not  quite  gone 
off." 

The  next  day  he  preached  at  Roxbury,  from  a  little  as- 
cent, to  many  thousands  of  people,  with  much  of  the  divine 
presence.  Several  came  to  him  afterwards,  telling  how  they 
were  struck  at  the  time  under  the  word.  He  had  a  still 
larger  audience  in  the  afternoon,  when  he  preached  from  a 
scaffold  erected  without  the  Rev.  Mr.  Byles'  meetinghouse, 
in  HoUis  Street. 

Saturday  was  a  great  day  with  him.  He  preached  in  the 
morning  at  Mr.  Welsteed's  meetinghouse,  and  in  the  after- 
noon, to  about  fifteen  thousand  people  on  the  Common. 
"  But  oh  how  did  the  word  run  !  It  rejoiced  me  to  see 
such  numbers  greatly  affected,  so  that  some  of  them,  I  be- 
lieve, could  scarcely  abstain  from  crying  out,  that  that  place 
was  no  other  than  a  Bethel,  and  the  gate  of  heaven."  He 
went  to  his  lodgings.  "  The  power  and  presence  of  the 
Lord  accompanied  and  followed  me.  Many  now  wept  ex- 
ceedingly, and  cried  out  under  the  word,  like  persons  that 
were  hungering  and  thirsting  after  righteousness.  And  after 
I  left  them,  God  gave  me  to  wrestle  with  him  in  my  cham- 
ber in  behalf  of  some  dear  friends  then  present,  and  others 
that  were  absent  from  us.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was 
upon  them  all.  It  made  intercessions  with  groanings  that 
cannot  be  uttered." 

On  the  Sabbath,  in  the  morning,  he  preached  at  the  Old 
South,  "to  a  very  crowded  auditory,  with  almost  as  much 
power  and  visible  appearance  of  God  among  us  as  yesterday 
in  the  afternoon,"  and  collected  £555  currency  for  his 
orphan  house.  These  herculean  labors  produced  bodily 
effects,  which  ordinary  men  would  have  thought  really  fright- 
ful. He  "  was  taken  very  ill  after  dinner  ;  vomited  vio- 
lently, but  was  enabled  to  preach  at  Dr.  Colman's  in  the 
afternoon,"  where  he  collected  J6  470.  "In  both  places,  all 
things  were  carried  on  with  great  decency  and  order.    Peo- 


92  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

pie  went  slowly  out,  as  though  they  had  not  a  mind  to  escape 
giving  ;  and  Dr.  Colman  said  it  was  the  pleasantest  time  he 
had  ever  enjoyed  in  tliat  meetinghouse  through  the  whole 
course  of  his  life."  After  sermon  he  felt  refreshed  ;  supped 
early  ;  had  an  affectionate  visit  from  the  Governor  ;  preached 
to  a  great  number  of  Negroes,  at  their  request,  and  with  great 
effect  ;  and  on  his  return  to  his  lodgings,  exhorted  the  crowd 
who  were  waiting  his  arrival.  "  My  animal  spirits  were 
almost  exhausted  ;  and  my  legs,  through  expense  of  sweat 
and  vomiting,  almost  ready  to  sink  under  me  ;  but  the  Lord 
visited  my  soul,  and  I  went  to  bed  greatly  refreshed  with  di- 
vine consolations."  Such  bodily  effects  frequently  accom- 
panied his  labors. 

On  this  day,  September  28,  his  celebrated  admonitory  let- 
ter to  Wesley  was  dated,  perhaps  by  mistake.  He  had  re- 
ceived letters  from  England  since  his  arrival,  some  of  which 
gave  sad  accounts  of  Wesley's  Arminianism  and  Perfection- 
ism. He  had  written  to  some  one,  September  23  :  "  To 
affirm  such  a  thing  as  perfection,  and  to  deny  final  persever- 
ance,— what  an  absurdity  is  this  I  To  be  incapable  of  sin- 
ning, and  capable  of  being  finally  damned,  is  a  contradiction 
in  terms."     To  Wesley  he  wrote  : 

"Dear  Brother  Wesley,  What  do  you  mean,  by  disputing  in  all 
your  letters  ?  May  God  give  you  to  know  yourself,  and  then  you  will 
not  plead  for  absolute  perfection,  or  call  the  doctrine  of  election  "  a 
doctrine  of  devils."  My  dear  brother,  take  heed  ;  see  that  you  are  in 
Christ,  a  new  creature.  Beware  of  a  false  peace  ;  strive  to  enter  in  at 
the  strait  gate,  and  give  all  diligence  to  make  your  calling  and  elec- 
tion sure.  Remember  you  are  but  a  babe  in  Christ,  if  so  much.  Be 
humble,  talk  little,  think  and  pray  much.  Let  God  teach  you,  and  he 
will  lead  you  into  all  truth.  I  love  you  heartily.  I  pray  you  may  be 
kept  from  error,  both  in  principle  and  practice.  Salute  all  the  breth- 
ren. If  you  must  dispute,  stay  till  you  are  master  of  your  subject; 
otherwise  you  will  hurt  the  cause  you  would  defend.  Study  to  adorn 
the  gospel  of  our  Lord  in  all  things  ;  and  forget  not  to  pray  for  your 
affectionate  friend,  George  Whitefield." 

Philip  says,  "whatever  truth  there  may  be  in  this  tirade,  it 
is  more  than  defeated  by  its  unhallowed  form.  Such  an  appeal 
could  only  exasperate."  Scarce  any  writer  has  mentioned 
it,  but  in  a  similar  style  of  condemnation  ;  and  it  was  cer- 
tainly an  improper  letter  to  be  addressed  by  a  very  young 
man,  to  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  so  much  his  superior  in  age 
and  acquirements,  of  estabhshed   reputation    for  piety,  and 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  93 

who  had  so  long  been  the  spiritual  guide  of  its  author. 
Whitefield  would  not  have  written  it,  had  he  not  been,  —  to 
use  his  own  language  on  another  occasion,  —  "  puffed  up," 
by  his  reception  and  success  at  Boston.  But  "Wesley  cer- 
tainly deserved  that  a  good  part  of  it  should  be  administered, 
in  a  proper  style  and  by  a  suitable  person  ;  and  it  is  no  won- 
der that  Whitefield,  when  such  multitudes  were  acknowledg- 
ing his  power,  when  such  a  brilliant  constellation  of  divines 
were  almost  worshipping  him,  and  above  all,  when  the  accom- 
plished Belcher  was  courting  his  instructions  and  reproofs, 
should  admonish  him  as  he  would  any  other  misguided  soul. 
Early  on  Monday  morning,  September  29,  he  left  Boston 
on  an  excursion  to  the  eastward.  At  Marblehead,  he 
"  preached  to  some  thousands  in  a  broad  place  in  the  middle 
of  the  town,  but  not  with  much  visible  effect."  At  Salem,  he 
"  preached  to  about  seven  thousand  people.  Here  the  Lord 
manifested  forth  his  glory.  One  man  was,  I  beheve,  struck 
down  by  the  power  of  the  word.  In  every  part  of  the  con- 
gregation, persons  might  be  seen  under  great  concern."  He 
went  on  to  Ipswich,  where  he  was  "  kindly  entertained  at 

the   house    of   Mr.  R rs,  one  of   the  ministers  of  the 

place."  In  1743,  John  Rogers,  aged  77,  and  Nathanael 
Rogers,  were  pastors  of  the  First  Church  in  Ipswich  ;  both 
ardent  promoters  of  the  revival  ;  as  was  also  Daniel  Rogers, 
of  the  same  family.  AVhitefield  learned  with  deep  interest, 
tliat  his  host  was  a  descendant  of  John  Rogers,  the  celebra- 
ted martyr.  The  next  day,  he  preached  there  to  some 
thousands.  "  The  Lord  gave  me  freedom,  and  there  was  a 
great  melting  in  the  congregation."  At  Newbury,  in  the 
afternoon,  "  the  Lord  accompanied  the  word  with  pow- 
er. The  meetinghouse  was  very  large,  many  ministers 
were  present,  and  the  people  were  greatly  affected.  Blessed 
be  God,  his  divine  power  attends  us  more  and  more." 
Wednesday  morning,  he  preached  at  Hampton,  to  some 
thousands  in  the  open  air.  The  high  wind  made  it  difficult 
to  be  heard,  and  he  had  not  his  usual  freedom.  A  few,  how- 
ever, were  affected.  At  Portsmouth,  he  preached  "  to  a 
polite  auditory,  but  so  very  unconcerned,  that  I  began  to 
question  whether  I  had  been  speaking  to  rational  or  brute 
creatures.  Seeing  no  immediate  effects  of  the  word  preach- 
ed, I  was  a  little  dejected  ;  but  God,  to  comfort  my  heart, 
sent  one  young  man,  crying  out  in  great  anguish  of  spirit. 


94  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  He  went  on  to  York,  in 
Maine,  "  to  see  one  Mr.  Moody,  a  wortliy,  plain  and  pow- 
erful minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  tliough  now  much  inijiaired  by 
old  age."  The  next  morning,  he  was  mucii  coinfurted  to 
hear  from  Mr.  Moody,  that  he  should  preach  to  an  hundred 
new  creatures  that  morning  ;  "  and  indeed  I  believe  I  did  ; 
for  when  I  came  to  preach,  1  could  sj)eak  little  or  no  terror, 
but  most  consolation."  He  preached  morning  and  evening. 
"  The  hearers  looked  j)lain  and  simple,  and  the  tears  trickled 
apace  down  most  of  their  cheeks."  He  returned  to  Ports- 
mouth that  night,  and  the  next  morning  preached  to  a  far 
greater  congregation,  and  with  much  belter  elTect,  than  be- 
fore. "  Instead  of  preaching  to  dcail  stocks,  I  now  had 
reason  to  believe  I  was  preaching  to  living  men.  People 
began  to  melt,  soon  after  I  began  to  pray  ;  and  the  power 
increased  more  and  more,  during  the  whole  sermon."  A 
collection  of  £07,  7s.  Gd.  was  taken  up  for  the  orphan 
house,  and  ^Ir.  Shurtleft',  the  pastor,  in  remitting  it,  wrote 
that  numbers  were  under  deep  religious  impressions.  He 
preached  to  several  thousands,  and  collected  X41,  10s.  at 
Hampton,  and  to  large  congregations  the  next  day  at  New- 
bury, where  he  collected  C  SO,  9s.,  and  at  Ipswich.  The 
Sabbath  was  spent  at  Salem.  He  preached  at  eight  in  the 
morning  at  the  meetinghouse,  read  prayers  and  assisted  at 
the  sacrament  at  the  Episcopal  church,  and  preached  again 
at  the  meetinghouse  ;  but  saw  no  such  power  as  on  his  for- 
mer visit.  At  Marblehead,  Monday  forenoon,  he  says  :  "  I 
was  upon  the  mount  myself,  and  the  Lord  attended  his  word 
with  mighty  power."  Two  ministers  had  collected  £70, 
2s.  6d,  for  his  orphan  house.  In  the  afternoon  he  preach- 
ed at  Maiden,  but  with  less  power  than  in  the  morning,  and 
arrived  that  night  at  Boston.  His  health  was  much  improv- 
ed, and  he  went  to  rest,  full  of  peace,  and  desiring  to  be 
thankful  to  the  Lord,  for  causing  him  thus  to  renew  his 
strength. 

Tuesday,  October  7,  he  preached  morning  and  evening  at 
Brattle  Street;  "both  times  with  much  power."  There 
had  been  a  report,  that  he  had  died  suddenly,  or  was  poison- 
ed, and  the  people  rejoiced  to  see  him  again  alive.  At  the 
New  North,  (Mr.  Webb's,)  on  Wednesday,  there  was  more 
of  the  presence  of  God  through  the  whole  ministration,  than 
ever  he  had  known  at  one  time  through  the  whole  course  of 


THE  GRilAT  AWAKENLNG. 


06 


his  life.     He  went  there  wiUi  the  Governor,  in  his  coach 
and  preached  n.orning  and   evening.     -Jesus  Christ  uiani- 
lested  lorth  his  glory  ;  many  hearts  melted  wiiliin  them  ;  and 
1  ihiMk  I   uas   never  so  drawn   out  to  pray  for  and  invite 
little  children  to  Jesus  Christ,  as  1  was  this  morning.      A  lit- 
tle before,  I  had  heard  of  a  child,  who  was  taken^ick   lust 
after  it  had  heard  me  preach,  and  said,  he  would  go  to  Mr. 
Wliiteficld  s   God,  and  died  in  a  short  time.      This  encour- 
aged me  to  speak  to  the  little  ones.      But  O  how  were  the 
old  people  ariected,  when  1  said,— Little  children,  if  your 
parents  will  not  come  to   Christ,  do  you  come   and   /o  to 
heaven  without  them.      'I'here  seemed  to  be  but  few  dr>- eyes 
look  where  I  would.  -  1  have  not  seen  a  greater  commotion 
since  my  preaching  at  Boston.     Clory  be  to  Cod,  who  has 
not  lorgotien  to  be  gracious.      At  the  same  time  was  collect- 

On   Thursday,  he  preached  the  pubhc  lecture  at  the  Old 
i5outJi.      Jle  had  chosen  another  text,  but  it  was  much  im- 
pressed on  Ins  heart,  that  he  should  preach  from  our  Lord's 
conference  with  Nicodemus.      A  great  number  of  ministfrs 
were  present  ;  and  when  he  came  to  the  words,   "Art  thou 
a  master  in  Israel,  an<l  knowest  not  these  things,"  he  says, 
—  -  Ihe  Lord  enabled  me  to  open  my  mouth   boldlv  against 
unconverted  ministers  ;   to  cauiion  tutors  to  lake  care  of  their 
pupils  ;  and  also  to  advise  ministers  particularly  to  examine 
into  the  experiences  of  candidates  for  ordination.      For  I  am 
verily  p.'rsuaded   the   generality  of  preachers  talk  of  an  un- 
known and  unlelt  Christ  ;  and  the  reasons  why  congregations 
have    been  so   dead  is,   because   they  have    had  dead   men 
preaching  to  them.     O  that  the  Lord  may  quicken  and  re- 
vive them,  for  his  own  name's  sake.      For  how  can  dead 
men  beget  living  children  ?      It  is  true,  indeed,   God  may 
convert  men  by  the  devil,  if  he  pleases,  and  so  he  may  by 
unconverted  ministers  ;  but  I  believe  he  seldom  makes  use  of 
either  of  them  for  this  purpose.     No,  the  Lord  will  choose 
vessels  made  meet  by  the  operations  of  the  blessed  Spirit  for 
his  sacred  use  ;  and  as  for  mv  own   part,   I   would  not  lay 
liands  on  an  unconverted  man  for  ten  thousand  worlds.      Un- 
speakable freedom  God  gave  me  while  treating  on  this  head 
In  the  afternoon,  I  preached  on  the  Common  to  about  fifteen 
thousand  people,  and  collected  upwards  of  JE200  for  the  or- 
phan house.     Just  as  I  had  finished  my  sermon,  a  ticket 


96  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

was  put  up  to  me,  wherein  I  was  desired  to  pray  for  a  per- 
son just  entered  upon  the  ministry,  but  under  apprcliensions 
that  he  was  unconverted.  (Jod  enabled  me  to  pray  for  him 
with  my  whole  heart  ;  and  1  hope  tiiat  ticket  will  leach  niany 
others  not  to  run  before  they  can  give  an  account  of  their 
conversion.  If  they  do,  they  offer  God  strange  fire."  The 
same  day  and  evening,  he  attended  the  funeral  of  one  of  the 
provincial  council,  preached  at  the  Almshouse,  exhorted  a 
great  number  who  followed  him  there,  and  conversed  with 
many  who  waited  at  his  lodgings  for  spiritual  advice.  Ever 
since  his  return  from  the  east,  he  had  been  thronged,  morning 
and  evening,  with  anxious  inquirers. 

The  next  day,  he  went  with  Mr.  Cooper  to  Charlestown, 
preached  with  much  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  collected 
£156  for  the  orphan  house;  preached  again  at  Reading, 
to  many  thousands,  collected  £51,  5s.  and  observed  a  con- 
siderable melting  in  the  congregation.  The  next  day,  he 
preached  from  the  meetinghouse  door  at  Cambridge  to  a 
great  body  of  people,  who  stood  very  attentively,  though  it 
rained,  and  were  at  the  latter  part  of  the  sermon  much  affect- 
ed.    Here  he  collected  £100. 

The  morning  of  the  Sabbath,  October  12,  was  spent  in 
conversing  with  those  who  came  for  spiritual  advice.  He 
then  preached  with  great  power  and  affection  at  the  Old 
South,  which  was  so  exceedingly  thronged,  that  he  was  ob- 
liged to  get  in  at  one  of  the  window  s.  He  dined  with  the  Gov- 
ernor, who  came  to  him  after  dinner,  weeping,  and  desired 
his  prayers.  He  heard  Dr.  Sewall  in  the  afternoon.  He 
was  sick  during  and  after  the  exercises  ;  but  went  with  the 
Governor  in  his  coach,  and  preached  his  farewell  sermon  on 
the  Common,  to  near  thirty  thousand  people.  Great  numbers 
melted  into  tears  when  he  spoke  of  leaving  them.  The  Gov- 
ernor then  went  with  him  to  his  lodgings.  He  stood  in  the 
passage  and  spoke  to  a  great  company,  both  within  and  with- 
out the  doors  ;  but  they  were  so  deeply  affected,  and  cried  out 
so  loud,  that  he  was  obliged  to  leave  off  praying.  The  Gov- 
ernor was  highly  pleased  to  see  the  power  of  God.  The 
remainder  of  the  evening  was  mostly  spent  in  conversation 
with  inquirers. 

In  closing  his  account  of  this  day's  work,  he  exclaims  : 
"  Blessed  be  God  for  what  he  has  done  at  Boston  !  I  hope 
a  glorious  work  is  now  begun,  and  that  the  Lord  will  stir  up 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  97 

some  faiihful  laborers  to  carry  it  on.  Boston  is  a  large  pop- 
ulous place,  ver)  wealthy  ;  has  the  form  kept  up  very  well, 
but  has  lost  much  of  the  power  of  religion.  I  have  not  heard 
of  any  remarkable  stir  in  it  for  these  many  years.  Ministers 
and  people  are  obliged  to  confess,  that  the  love  of  many  is 
waxed  cold.  Both,  for  the  generality,  seem  too  much  con- 
formed to  the  world.  There  is  much  of  the  pride  of  life  to 
be  seen  in  their  assemblies.  Jewels,  patches  and  gay  ap- 
parel are  commonly  worn  by  the  female  sex.  Little  boys 
and  girls  I  observed  commonly  dressed  up  in  the  pride  of 
life  ;  and  the  little  infants  that  were  brought  to  baptism,  were 
wrapped  in  such  fine  things,  and  so  much  pains  taken  to  dress 
them,  that  one  would  think  they  were  brought  thither  to  be 
initiated  into,  rather  than  renounce,  the  pomps  and  vanities 
of  this  wicked  world,  (^ne  thing  Boston  is  remarkable  for, 
—  the  external  observation  of  the  Sabbath.  Men  in  civil 
offices  have  a  regard  for  religion.  The  Governor  encourages 
them,  and  the  ministers  and  magistrates  seem  to  be  more 
united,  than  in  any  other  place  where  I  have  been.  Both 
were  exceeding  civil  to  me  during  my  stay.  I  never  saw  so 
little  scoffing  ;  never  had  so  little  opposition.  But  one  might 
easily  foresee,  much  would  hereafter  arise,  when  I  come  to  be 
more  particular  in  my  application  to  particular  persons  ;  for, 
I  fear,  many  rest  in  a  head-knowledge,  are  close  Pharisees, 
and  having  only  a  name  to  live.  Boston  people  are  dear  to 
my  soul.  They  were  greatly  affected  by  the  word,  followed 
night  and  day,  and  were  very  liberal  to  my  dear  orphans.  I 
promised,  God  willing,  to  visit  them  again,  and  intend  to  ful- 
fil my  promise  when  it  shall  please  God  to  bring  me  again 
from  my  native  country.  In  the  meanwhile,  dear  Boston, 
adieu.  The  Lord  be  with  thy  ministers  and  people,  and 
grant  that  the  remnant  that  is  left  according  to  the  election  of 
grace,  may  take  root  downwards,  and  bear  fruit  upwards, 
and  fill  the  land." 

The  next  day,  he  left  Boston  for  Northampton,  to  visit 
Edwards  and  the  scene  of  the  revival  of  1735.  The  Gov- 
ernor took  him  in  his  coach  to  the  ferry,  kissed  him,  and 
with  tears  bade  him  farewell.  He  arrived  at  Concord  about 
noon,  preached  twice  to  some  thousands  in  the  open  air, 
"and  a  comfortable  preaching  it  was.  The  hearers  were 
sweetly  melted  down."  Bliss,  the  minister,  —  of  whose 
subsequent  labors  more  perfect  accounts  ought  to  have  been 
9 


98  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

preserved, — wept  abundantly.  On  Thursday  he  preached  at 
Sudbury,  to  some  thousands,  with  power,  and  observed  a 
considerable  commotion  in  the  assembly.  He  next  preach- 
ed at  ]\rarlborough.  His  heart  was  dead  at  first,  and  he  had 
but  little  freedom  ;  but  before  he  finished,  the  word  came 
with  such  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  that  great  numbers 
were  very  much  melted  down.  Here  he  found  Governor 
Belcher,  who  went  with  him  through  the  rain  that  night  to 
Worcester.  Here,  on  Wednesday,  he  "  jjrcached  in  the 
open  air  to  some  thousands.  The  word  fell  with  weight  in- 
deed. It  carried  all  before  it.  "  The  Governor  exhorted 
him  to  go  on  stirring  up  ministers,  for  reformation  must  begin 
at  the  house  of  God  ;  told  him  not  to  spare  rulers,  more  than 
ministers,  —  no,  not  the  chief  of  them  ;  requested  Whitefield 
to  pray  for  him,  that  he  might  hunger  and  thirst  after  right- 
eousness, and  took  leave  of  him  with  tears.  "  I  have  ob- 
served," he  remarks,  with  the  most  amusing  simplicity, 
"  that  1  have  had  greater  power  than  ordinary,  whenever  the 
Governor  has  been  at  public  worship.  A  sign  this,  I  hope, 
that  the  Most  High  intends  effectually  to  bring  him  home, 
and  place  him  at  his  own  right  hand."  It  was  indeed  "a 
sign  "  that  Whitefield  felt  flattered  by  the  attentions  of  great 
men,  and  put  forth  liis  powers  with  more  courage  and  joy, 
when  they  smiled  upon  him,  and  especially  when  they  wept 
before  him.  In  the  afternoon,  he  preached  at  Leicester,  but 
with  less  power  ;  and  spent  the  night  at  Brookfield.  Thurs- 
day morning,  he  "  rose  in  great  dejection,  at  the  considera- 
tion of  indwelling  sin  ;  retired,  and  wept  before  the  Lord  ; 
preached,  not  with  extraordinary  freedom  at  first,  but  at  last 
the  word  ran,  and  melted  many  down."  At  Coldspring,  he 
preached  to  three  or  four  hundred  people,  but  perceived  little 
moving  among  them,  except  for  a  few  minutes. 

On  Friday,  he  arrived  at  Hadley,  "a  place  where  a  great 
work  of  God  was  begun  some  few  years  ago.  But  lately 
the  people  of  God  have  complained  of  deadness,  and  losing 
their  first  love.  However,  as  soon  as  I  mentioned  what 
God  had  done  for  their  souls  formerly,  it  was  like  putting  fire 
to  tinder.  The  remembrance  of  it  quickened  them,  and 
caused  many  of  them  to  weep  sorely."  * 

The    same    day,    he   crossed  the  river   to  Northampton, 

•  Gillies  applies  this  to  Northampton,  and  Philip  copies  the  error. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  99 

where  he  spent  several  delightful  days.  "  Mr.  Edwards  is  a 
solid,  excellent  Christian  ;  but  at  present  weak  in  body.  1 
think  1  may  say  I  have  not  seen  his  fellow  in  all  New  Eng- 
land. When  1  came  into  his  pulpit,  1  found  my  heart  drawn 
out  to  talk  of  scarce  any  thing  but  the  consolations  and  priv- 
ileges of  saints,  and  the  plentiful  effusions  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  the  hearts  of  believers.  And  when  1  came  to  remind 
them  of  their  former  experiences,  and  how  zealous  and  lively 
they  were  at  that  time,  both  minister  and  people  wept  much, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  enabled  me  to  speak  with  a  great  deal 
of  power."  That  evening,  he  exhorted  several  that  canje 
to  Mr.  Edwards'  house. 

The  next  morning,  at  Mr.  Edwards'  request,  he  spoke  to 
his  liitle  children,  who  were  much  affected  ;  rode  with  him 
to  Hatfield,  where  he  preached,  but  found  himself  much 
straitened  ;  returned,  and  preached  at  Northampton  with  his 
usual  power. 

On  the  Sabbath,  he  "  felt  wonderful  satisfaction  in  being 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Edwards.  He  is  a  son  himself,  and 
hath  also  a  daughter  of  Abraham  for  his  wife.  A  sweeter 
couj)le  I  have  not  yet  seen.  Their  children  were  dressed, 
not  in  silks  and  satins,  but  plain,  as  becomes  the  children  of 
those  who  in  all  things  ought  to  be  examples  of  Christian  sim- 
plicity. She  is  a  woman  adorned  with  a  meek  and  quiet 
spirit,  and  talked  so  feelingly  and  solidly  of  the  things  of 
God,  and  seemed  to  be  such  a  helpmeet  to  her  husband,  that 
she  caused  me  to  renew  those  prayers  which  for  some  months 
J  have  put  up  to  God,  that  he  would  send  me  a  daughter  of 
Abraiiam  to  be  my  wife.  I  find,  upon  many  accounts,  it  is 
my  duty  to  marry.  Lord,  I  desire  to  have  no  choice  of  my 
own.  Thou  knowest  my  circumstances."  He  had  not  yet 
learned,  if  he  ever  did,  that  God  is  not  pleased  to  make  such 
"sweet  couples"  out  of  persons  who  have  no  choice,  of  ■• 
their  own.  j 

Whiiefield  "  preached  this  morning,  and  perceived  the 
melting  begin  sooner  and  rise  higher  than  before.  Dear 
Mr.  Edwards  wept  almost  during  the  whole  time  of  the  ex- 
ercise. The  people  were  equally,  if  not  more  affected  ; 
and  my  own  soul  was  much  lifted  up  towards  God.  In  the 
afternoon  the  power  increased  yet  more  and  more.  Our 
Lord  seemed  to  keep  the  good  wine  to  the  last.  I  have  not 
seen  such  a  gracious  melting  since  my  arrival.     My  soul  was 


100  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

much  knit  to  these  dear  people  of  God  ;  and  ihougli  I  had 
not  time  to  converse  with  them  ahout  their  experiences,  yet 
one  might  see  they  were  for  the  most  part  a  gracious,  tender 
people,  and,  though  dieir  former  fire  might  be  greatly  abated, 
yet  it  immediately  appeared  when  stirred  up." 

On  Sabbath  evening,  Whitefield  left  Northampton.  Ed- 
wards accompanied  him  as  far  as  the  residence  of  his  father, 
the  Rev.  Timothy  Edwards,  in  East  Windsor,  Ct.  And  here 
some  things  must  be  related,  which  do  not  appear  in  the 
Journal.  Edwards  himself  was  compelled  to  give  a  state- 
ment of  them,  by  misrepresentations  which  were  put  in  cir- 
culation by  President  Clapp,  in  1744.  * 

It  appears  that  Edwards  purposely  took  an  opportunity  to 
converse  with  Whitefield,  alone,  about  impulses,  and  told 
him  some  reasons  he  had  for  thinking  that  he  gave  too  great 
heed  to  such  things.  Whitefield  did  not  seem  to  be  ofi^end- 
ed  ;  but  yet  did  not  appear  inclined  to  converse  much  on 
that  subject,  or  to  be  convinced  by  any  thing  that  Edwards 
said  to  him.  He  also  conversed  with  Barber,  (who  appears 
to  have  accompanied  Whitefield  in  all  this  journey,  though 
never  mentioned  in  the  Journal  after  leaving  Newport,)  about 
some  of  his  impulses,  "  dealing  very  plainly  with  him, 
whereby  he  seemed  to  be  displeased,  and  replied  with  earn- 
estness and  zeal."  He  adds:  "It  is  also  true,  that  I 
thought  Mr.  Whitefield  liked  me  not  so  well  for  my  opposing 
these  things  ;  and  though  he  treated  me  with  great  kindness, 
yet  he  never  made  so  much  of  an  intimate  of  me,  as  of  some 
others."  He  also  conversed  with  Whitefield,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  others,  about  judging  other  persons  to  be  unconvert- 
ed. He  also  believed,  —  though  it  does  not  appear  that  they 
conversed  upon  it, — that  Whitefield  "  did  aim  at  people's 
forsaking  unconverted  ministers,  and  to  endeavor  that  there 
should  be  a  supply  of  converted  ministers,  as  far  as  in  him 
lay."  Whitefield  also  told  him  of  his  design  of  bringing 
over  a  number  of  young  men  from  England,  to  be  ordained 
by  the  Tennents,  in  New  Jersey. 

From  these  materials,  mingled,  probably,  whh  indistinct 
recollections  of  information  from  other  sources.  President 
Clapp,  some  years  afterwards,  constructed  a  frightful  story 
of  Whitefield's  errors  and  evil  intentions,  and,  especially,  of 

*See  Edwards'  Letters  to  Clapp.  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  101 

his  design  to  turn  the  greater  part  of  the  ministers  in  Xew 
England  out  of  their  pulpits,  and  fill  their  places  with  con- 
verted men  from  England. 

He  preached  on  Monday  at  Westfield  and  Springfield, 
and  on  Tuesday  at  Suffield,  to  large  audiences,  and  with  his 
usual  power.  A  litile  below  Springfield,  when  crossing  a 
bridge,  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse,  and  ''stunned  for  a 
while  ;  "  but  was  soon  able  to  remount  and  proceed.  At  or 
near  Suffield,  he  met  with  a  minister,  "  who  said  it  was  not 
absolutely  necessary  for  a  gospel  minister  to  be  converted  ;" 
meaning,  doubtless,  that  though  conversion  was  necessary 
for  his  salvation,  it  was  not  indispensable  to  his  ministerial 
character  and  usefulness.  This  interview  gave  Whitefield  a 
subject.  "  I  insisted  much  in  my  discourse  upon  the  doc- 
trine of  tile  new  birth,  and  also  the  necessity  of  a  minister's 
being  converted  before  he  could  preach  Christ  ariglit.  The 
word  came  with  great  power,  and  a  great  impression  was 
made  upon  the  people  in  all  parts  of  the  assembly.  Many 
ministers  were  present.  I  did  not  spare  ihcrn.  Most  of 
them  thanked  me  for  my  plain  dealing.  But  one  was  offend- 
ed ;  and  so  would  more  of  his  stamp,  if  I  was  to  continue 
longer  in  New  England.  For  unconverted  ministers  are  the 
bane  of  the  Christian  church  ;  and  though  I  honor  the  mem- 
ory of  that  great  and  good  man,  Mr.  Stoddard,  yet  I  think 
he  is  much  to  be  blamed  for  endeavouring  to  prove  that  un- 
converted men  might  be  admitted  into  the  ministry.  How 
he  has  handled  the  controversy,  I  know  not.  I  think  no  sol- 
id arguments  can  be  brought  to  defend  such  a  cause.  —  A 
sermon  lately  published  by  ]Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent,  entitled, 
The  Danger  of  an  Unconverted  Ministry,  I  think  unanswer- 
able." Stoddard,  in  his  "  Appeal  to  the  Learned,"  assumes, 
that  an  unconverted  minister  is  bound  to  continue  in  the  per- 
formance of  ministerial  duties,  and  infers  that  unconverted 
men  may  therefore  be  admitted  to  the  church.  This  opinion 
prevailed  extensively  ;  though  all  held  it  desirable  that  a  min- 
ister should  be  a  converted  man.  I?y  his  attacks  on  this 
opinion,  and  especially  by  thus  endorsing  Tennent's  Notting- 
ham sermon,  Whitefield  gave  great  offence. 

He  preached  that  afternoon  at  East  Windsor,  spent  the 
night  with  Mr.  Edwards,  senior,  and  preached  "to  many  thou- 
sands, and  with  much  freedom  and  power,"  at  Hartford  in 
the  morning  and  at  Weathersfield  in  the  afternoon.     Here  he 

9* 


102  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

met  Messrs.  Wheelock  and  Pomroy,  "two  young,  faithful 
and  zealous  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ."  From  this  place, 
he  had  intended  to  go  eastward  as  far  as  Plymouth,  and  re- 
turn by  another  route  to  Providence  ;  and  notice  had  been 
given  in  the  newspapers,  of  about  twenty  sermons,  that  he 
would  preach  at  the  times  and  places  specified.  He  was 
afterwards  blamed  for  making  these  a))poiiitments  without  first 
consulting  the  pastors  of  the  several  churches,  thus  giving 
countenance,  it  was  said,  to  the  practice  of  itinerants  intrud- 
ing into  other  men's  parishes  without  their  consent.  The 
proceeding  was  certainly  somewhat  irregular,  but  Whitefield 
was  not  much  to  be  blamed  for  it.  The  details  were  settled 
and  the  publication  made  by  men  in  whose  judgment  and 
knowledge  of  the  customs  of  the  country  he  l)ad  a  right  to 
confide  ;  and  the  appointments  were  believed,  in  all  cases, 
and  doubtless  known  in  some,  to  be  agreeable  to  the  parties 
concerned.  At  Weathersfield,  he  found  himself  obliged  to 
hasten  to  New  York,  and  immediately  published  a  note,  re- 
calling these  appointments.  *  The  next  day,  after  preaching 
to  thousands  at  INIiddletown  and  Wallingford,  he  arrived  ai 
New  Haven. 

It  was  now  Friday,  October  24.  He  preached  that  after- 
noon, twice  on  Saturday,  and  twice  on  tlie  Sabbath  ;  besides 
expounding  at  his  lodgings  and  conversing  with  individuals. 
The  power  of  his  preaching  increased  to  the  last.  Here  he 
saw  the  Rev.  Jedediah  Mills,  of  Ripton,  "  a  dear  man  of 
God,"  who  "  talked  like  one  that  was  no  novice  in  divine 
things."  They  dined  together  with  Mr.  Clapp,  Rector  of 
the  College.  In  one  of  his  sermons,  he  "  spoke  very  close- 
ly to  the  students,  and  showed  the  dreadful  ill  consequences 
of  an  unconverted  ministry."  Mills,  and  some  other  minis- 
ters, "rejoiced  in  spirit."  He  called  upon  the  Governor, 
whom  he  had  observed  to  be  greatly  affected  under  the  word. 
"When  I  came  in,  he  said  'I  am  glad  to  see  you,  and 
heartily  glad  to  hear  you.'  But  his  heart  was  so  full  that  he 
could  not  speak  much."  He  wept  plentifully,  and  said,  he 
was  thankful  to  God  for  such  refreshings  in  the  way  to  our 
rest.  Having  collected  near  £40  for  his  orphan  house,  he 
left  New  Haven  that  evening.  Probably,  this  visit  prepared 
the  way  for  the  "great  and  general  awakening"  in  the  col- 
lege four  months  afterwards. 


Boston  News  Letter,  Oct.  16  and  Oct.  2*2,  1740.     Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  103 

He  preached  wiilj  good  success  at  Millord  on  Monday 
morning,  and  with  less  at  Stratford  in  the  afternoon.  He 
was  still  more  "  restrained  "  at  Fairfield  and  Norwalk  on 
Tuesday,  when  the  weather  was  cold,  snow  had  fallen,  and 
his  hearers  were  few.  Yet  he  ohserved  that  some  were  af- 
fected, and  believed  the  Lord  never  let  iiini  preach  in  vain. 
His  ride  to  Stanford,  on  Tuesday  evening,  was  dark  and 
rainy.  That  night  he  was  visited  with  a  great  inward  trial, 
so  that  he  was  pained  to  the  heart.  He  was  somewhat  de- 
jected before  he  went  out  of  his  lodgings  the  next  morning, 
and  somewhat  distressed  for  a  text  after  he  got  into  the  pul- 
pit. "  But  at  length  the  Lord  directed  me  to  one,  but  I 
looked  for  no  power  or  success,  being  very  low  by  my  last 
night's  trial.  Notwithstanding,  before  1  had  preached  half 
an  hour,  the  blessed  Spirit  began  to  move  on  the  hearers' 
hearts  in  a  very  awful  manner.  Young,  and  especially  many 
old  people,  were  surprisingly  affected,  so  that  1  tliought  they 
would  have  cried  out.  At  dinner,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
came  upon  me  again,  and  enabled  me  to  speak  with  such 
vigor  against  sending  unconverted  persons  into  the  ministry, 
tliat  two  ministers,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  publicly  confessed, 
tliey  had  laid  hands  on  young  men,  without  so  much  as  asking 
them  whether  tiiey  were  born  again  of  God  or  not.  After 
dirmer,  finding  my  heart  much  enlarged,  1  prayed,  and  with 
such  power,  that  most  in  the  room  were  put  under  concern. 
And  one  old  minister  was  so  deeply  convicted,  that,  calling 
Mr.  Noble  and  me  out,  with  great  difficulty,  (because  of  his 
weeping,)  he  desired  our  prayers  ;  for,  said  he,  '  I  have  been 
a  scholar,  and  have  preached  the  doctrines  of  grace  for  a 
long  time,  but  I  believe  I  have  never  felt  the  power  of  them 
in  my  own  soul.'  O  tJiat  all  unconverted  ministers  were 
brought  to  make  the  same  confession.  I  was  much  affected 
by  his  ingenuity,  [ingenuousness,]  and,  after  having  by  prayer 
earnestly  recommended  him  to  God,  I  took  horse,  rejoicing 
exceedingly  in  spirit,  to  see  how  our  Lord  was  getting  him- 
self the  victory,  in  a  place  where  Mr.  Davenport,  a  native  of 
Stanford  and  a  dear  minister  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  had  been 
slighted  and  despised.  '  A  prophet  is  not  without  honor, 
save  in  his  own  country  and  his  father's  house.' "  Had 
Whitefield  been  a  better  judge  of  character,  he  would  have 
been  more  guarded  in  his  praises  of  Davenport  ;  and  he 
would  not  liave  set  down  as  unconverted,  every  man  whom 


104  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

his  heart-searching  sermons  led  to  suspect  the  soundness  of 
his  own  hope.  He  proceeded  the  same  day  to  Rye,  in  the 
province  of  New  York.  His  reflections  on  leaving  New 
England  must  he  given  entire. 

"But  here  I  think  it  proj)er  to  set  up  my  Ebenezer,  and, 
before  I  enter  into  the  province  of  New  York,  to  give  God 
thanks  for  sending  me  into  New  England.  I  have  now  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  greatest  and  most  j)opulous 
parts  of  it ;  and,  take  it  altogether,  it  certainly  on  many  ac- 
counts exceeds  all  other  provinces  in  America,  and,  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  religion,  perhaps  all  other  parts  of  the  world. 
Never,  surely,  was  so  large  a  spot  of  ground  settled  in  such 
a  manner,  in  so  short  a  space  as  one  hundred  years.  The 
towns  through  Connecticut,  and  eastward  towards  York,  in 
the  province  of  Massacliuselts  Bay,  near  the  river  side,  are 
large  and  well  peopled,  and  exceeding  pleasant  to  travel 
through.  Every  five  or  ten  miles  you  have  a  meetinghouse, 
and  I  believe  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  pluralist  or  non- 
resident minister  in  both  provinces.  Many,  perhaps  most 
that  preach,  I  fear,  do  not  experimentally  know  Christ  ;  yet 
I  cannot  see  much  worldly  advantage  to  tempt  them  to  take 
upon  them  the  sacred  function.  Eew  country  ministers,  as 
I  have  been  informed,  have  sufficient  allowed  them  to  main- 
tain a  family.  God  has  remarkably,  in  sundry  times  and 
in  divers  manners,  poured  out  his  Spirit  in  several  parts  of 
both  provinces  ;  and  it  often  refreshes  my  soul,  to  hear  of  the 
faith  of  the  good  forefathers  who  first  settled  in  these  parts. 
Notwithstanding  they  had  their  foibles,  surely  they  were  a 
set  of  righteous  men.  They  certainly  followed  our  Lord's 
rule,  — sought  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness  ; 
and,  behold,  all  other  things  God  added  unto  them.  Their 
seed  are  now  blessed,  in  temporal  things  especially  ;  and,  not- 
withstanding the  rising  generation  seem  to  be  settled  upon 
their  lees,  yet  I  believe  the  Lord  hath  left  more  than  seven 
thousand  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  The  minis- 
ters and  people  of  Connecticut  seem  to  be  more  simple  and 
serious  than  those  that  live  near  Boston,  especially  in  those' 
parts  where  I  went.  But  I  think  the  ministers  preaching 
almost  universally  by  notes,  is  a  certain  mark  they  have  in  a 
great  measure  lost  the  old  spirit  of  preaching.  For  though 
all  are  not  to  be  condemned  that  use  notes,  yet  it  is  a  sad 
symptom  of  the  decay  of  vital  religion,  when  reading  ser- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  105 

mons  becomes  fashionable  where  extempore  preaching  did 
once  almost  universally  prevail.  When  the  spirit  of  prayer 
began  to  be  lost,  then  forms  of  prayer  were  invented  ;  and  I 
believe  the  same  observation  will  hold  good  as  to  preaching. 
As  for  the  universities,  I  believe  it  may  be  said,  their  light 
is  now  become  darkness  —  darkness  that  may  be  felt  ;  and  is 
complained  of  by  the  most  godly  ministers.  I  pray  God 
these  fountains  may  be  purified,  and  send  forth  pure  streams 
to  water  the  city  of  our  God.  The  Church  of  England 
is  at  a  very  low  ebb  ;  and,  as  far  as  I  can  find,  had  people 
kept  their  primitive  purity,  it  would  scarce  have  got  footing 
in  New  England.  I  have  many  evidences  to  prove,  that 
most  of  the  churches  have  been  first  set  up  by  immoral  men, 
and  such  as  would  not  submit  to  the  discipline  of  their  con- 
gregations, or  were  corrupt  in  the  faith.  But  I  will  say  no 
more  about  the  poor  Church  of  England.  Most  of  her  sons, 
whether  ministers  or  people,  I  fear,  hate  to  be  reformed. 
As  for  the  civil  government  of  New  England,  it  seems  to  be 
well  regulated,  and  1  think  at  opening  all  their  courts,  either 
the  judge  or  minister  begins  with  a  prayer.  Family  worship, 
I  believe,  is  generally  kept  up.  The  negroes,  I  think,  are 
better  used,  both  in  respect  to  soul  and  body,  than  in  any 
other  province  I  have  yet  seen.  In  short,  1  like  New  Eng- 
land exceedingly  well,  and,  when  a  spirit  of  reformation 
revives,  it  certainly  will  prevail  more  than  in  other  places  ; 
because  they  are  more  simple  in  their  worship,  less  corrupt 
in  their  principles,  and  consequently  more  easily  brought  over 
to  the  form  of  sound  words,  into  which  so  many  of  their 
pious  ancestors  were  delivered.  Send  forth,  O  Lord,  thy 
light  and  thy  truth,  and  for  thine  infinite  mercy's  sake, 
show  that  thou  hast  a  peculiar  delight  in  these  habitable  parts 
of  the  earth.     Amen,  Lord  Jesus,  amen." 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

WHITEFIELD  IN  NEW  YORK,  ANT)  AT  THE  SOUTH. 

Having  dined  with  the  minister  of  the  Church  of  England, 
preached  and  read  prayers  at  Rye,  spent  the  evening  at  East 


106  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Chester,  preached  there  the  next  morning  to  about  three 
hundred  people,  among  whom  he  observed  "a  sweet  melt- 
ing," and  preached  to  about  five  hundred  from  the  steps  of  a 
public  house  at  Kingsbridge,  but  without  much  visible  effect, 
Whitefield  arrived  at  New  York,  on  the  30lh  of  October. 
He  told  his  friend  Mr.  Noble,  on  the  way,'  that  he  expected 
but  little  movings  at  New  York  ;  but  Noble  bade  him  expect 
great  things  from  God,  and  told  him  of  several  who  seemed 
to  have  been  savingly  wrought  upon  by  his  ministry  when 
there  before.  "  After  supper  the  Lord  filled  my  heart,  and 
gave  me  to  wrestle  with  him  for  New  York  inhabitants,  and 
my  own  dear  friends.  To  add  to  my  comfort,  the  Lord 
brought  my  dear  brother  Davenport  from  Long  Island,  by 
whose  hands  the  blessed  Jesus  has  of  late  done  great  things," 
having  given  him,  in  his  own  parish,  near  twenty  souls  in 
about  two  months.  "  October  31,  met  with  a  bitter  pamph- 
let wrote  against  me  by  some  of  the  Presbyterian  persuasion, 
and  found  freedom  given  me  to  answer  it.  I  long  since 
expected  close  opposition  from  that  quarter.  I  believe  it 
will  be  increasing  daily."  He  also  met  with  two  volumes  of 
sermons,  published  in  London  as  delivered  by  him,  though 
he  had  never  preached  from  most  of  the  texts.  This  "  bitter 
pamphlet"  is  entitled  "  The  Querists  ;  or  an  extract  of  sun- 
dry passages  taken  out  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  printed  Sermons, 
Journals,  and  Letters,  together  with  some  scruples  proposed 
in  proper  Queries  raised  on  each  remark  ;  by  some  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  persuasion."  The  authors  call  them- 
selves members  of  congregations  belonging  to  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Castle,  and  the  Queries  were  submitted  to  that  Pres- 
bytery at  their  meeting  at  Whiteclay  Creek,  September  9, 
1740  ;  with  a  request  that  the  Presbytery  would  either  an- 
swer them  or  assent  to  their  being  printed.  The  Presbytery 
thought  it  best  to  "leave  it  to  the  people  to  print  their 
remarks,  and  Mr.  Whitefield  himself  to  answer  them." 
They  were  printed  at  Philadelphia,  and  reprinted  at  Boston 
before  the  end  of  the  year.*  The  bitterness  of  the  pamph- 
let consists  in  its  convicting  him  of  several  erroneous  expres- 


*The  copy  in  the  O.  S.  Ch.  Library  is  of  the  Boston  edition.  There 
was  evidently,  from  the  commencement  of  the  awakening,  a  constant  cor- 
respondence, and  even  a  close  alliance,  between  the  "  Old  Side"  Presbyte- 
rians and  Whitefield's  opposers  in  New  England. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  107 

sions  ;  for  its  language,  throughout,  is  courteous.  Whitefield 
thanked  them  for  the  opportunity  they  had  furnished,  of  pub- 
licly correcting  some  errors  in  his  printed  sermons  ;  confess- 
ed nearly  all  they  had  charged  upon  him  ;  mentioned  others 
that  they  had  not  noticed  ;  and  appealed  to  their  own  hearts, 
whether  it  was  right,  after  all  they  had  heard  of  his  preach- 
ing in  America,  to  censure  him  for  a  few  unguarded  expres- 
sions, dropped  from  his  pen  just  as  he  came  out  of  the 
University  of  Oxford.  He  assured  them,  that  he  did  not  find 
the  least  resentment  stirring  in  his  soul  against  them.  In  say- 
ing this,  he  did  not  deceive  himself  very  much,  for  he  certain- 
ly bore  their  criticisms  more  meekly  than  most  men  would 
have  done  ;  but  a  man  who  absolutely  felt  no  resentment, 
would  never  have  thought  of  saying  that  he  felt  none.  In 
the  morning  of  this  day,  he  preached  at  Mr.  Pemberton's 
meetinghouse.  He  never  saw  the  word  of  God  fall  with 
such  weight  in  New  York  before.  Look  where  he  would, 
many  seemed  deeply  wounded.  "  At  night,  the  word  was 
attended  with  great  power."  The  next  day,  he  finished  his 
answer  to  the  pamphlet.  "  The  Lord  enabled  me  to  do  it 
in  the  spirit  of  meekness."  He  "preached  twice,  to  very 
crowded  auditories,  and  neither  time  without  power.  In  the 
evening  exercise,  some  fainted,  and  the  Lord  seemed  to 
show  us  more  and  more,  that  a  time  for  favoring  New  York 
was  at  hand.  O,  wherefore  did  I  doubt  !  Lord  increase 
my  faith  !" 

"  Sunday,  November  2.  Preached  this  morning  with 
freedom  and  some  power,  but  was  much  dejected  before  the 
evening  sermon.  For  near  half  an  hour  before  I  left  Mr. 
Noble's  house,  I  could  only  lie  before  the  Lord  and  say  I 
was  a  poor  sinner,  and  wonder  that  Christ  would  be  gracious 
to  such  a  wretch.  As  I  went  to  meeting,  I  grew  weaker 
and  weaker,  and  when  I  came  into  the  pulpit,  I  could  have 
chose  to  be  silent  rather  than  to  speak."  This  was  not  only 
a  prelude,  but  a  preparation,  for  the  burst  that  was  to  follow. 
It  made  him  feel  the  worth  of  religion,  and  man's  need  of  it. 
It  brought  his  mind  into  close  and  agonizing  contemplation 
of  whatever  is  most  powerful  in  divine  truth.  It  drove  him 
to  prayer,  to  reliance  on  a  wisdom  and  strength  more  than  hu- 
man. It  at  once  summoned,  guided,  and  strengthened  all  his 
powers.  "  After  I  had  begun,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  gave 
me  freedom,  till  at  length  it  came  down  like  a  mighty  rushing 


108  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

wind,  and  carried  all  before  it."  Whitefield,  according  to 
his  own  explanation,  felt  the  presence  of  the  Spirit,  only  in 
the  ideas  and  emotions  which  the  Spirit  gave.  "  Immedi- 
ately the  whole  congregation  was  alarmed.  Shrieking,  cry- 
ing, weeping  and  wailing  were  to  be  heard  in  every  corner, 
men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and  many  falling  into  the 
arms  of  their  friends.  My  soul  was  carried  out,  till  I  could 
scarce  speak  any  more.  A  sense  of  CJod's  goodness  over- 
whelmed me.  After  I  came  home,  I  threw  myself  upon  the 
bed,  and,  in  awful  silence,  admired  the  infinite  freeness,  sov- 
ereignty and  condescension  of  the  love  of  God."  Then,  af- 
ter witnessing  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Barber,  whom  he  met  in 
Rhode  Island,  and  who  was  going  with  him  to  Georgia, 
"Divine  manifestations  flowed  in  so  fast"  —  such  views  of 
God  opened  to  his  mind,  —  "  that  my  frail  tabernacle  was 
scarce  able  to  sustain  them.  My  dear  friends  sat  round  me 
on  the  bed  sides.  I  prayed  for  each  of  them  alternately  w  ith 
strong  cries,  and  pierced,  by  the  eye  of  faith,  even  within  the 
veil.  I  continued  in  this  condition  for  about  half  an  hour, 
astonished  at  my  own  vileness  and  the  excellency  of  Christ, 
and  then  rose  full  of  peace  and  love  and  joy.  O,  how  am 
I  obliged  to  my  enemies  !  God  has  remarkably  revealed 
himself  to  my  soul,  ever  since  I  have  seen  the  pamphlet 
published  by  the  Presbyterians  against  me." 

After  preaching  twice  on  Monday,  to  increasing  congre- 
gations, and  observing,  at  both  times,  a  "great  and  gracious 
melting  among  the  people,  but  no  crying  out,"  he  went 
to  Staten  Island.  There,  on  Tuesday,  he  preached  from 
a  wagon,  to  three  or  four  hundred  people.  "The  Lord 
came  among  them."  Here  he  met  Gilbert  Tennent  and 
Mr.  Cross,  who  told  him  of  the  progress  of  the  good  work 
in  New  Jersey  and  Maryland.  After  the  sermon  he  rode 
to  Newark,  where  he  preached,  as  he  thought,  with  ht- 
tle  effect.  "  However,  at  night,  the  Lord  manifested  forth 
his  glory.  For  coming  down  to  family  prayer,  where  I  lodg- 
ed, and  perceiving  many  young  men  around  me,  my  soul,  as 
it  were,  melted  down  with  concern  for  them.  After  singing, 
I  gave  a  word  of  exhortation  ;  with  what  power,  none  can 
fully  express,  but  those  that  saw  it.  O,  how  did  the  word 
fall  like  a  hammer  and  like  a  fire  !  " 

On  Wednesday,  he  went  to  Baskinridge,  Mr.  Cross'  par- 
ish, where  he  found  that  Mr.  Davenport,  according  to  ap- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  109 

pointment,  had  been  preaching  to  about  three  thousand  peo- 
ple. "  As  I  went  along,  I  told  the  people  my  soul  wept  for 
them,  and  I  was  persuaded  within  myself  that  the  Lord  would 
ill  that  day  make  his  power  to  be  known  amongst  them.  In 
prayer,  I  perceived  my  soul  drawn  out,  and  a  stirring  of  af- 
fections among  the  people.  I  had  not  discoursed  long,  but 
the  Holy  Ghost  displayed  his  power  ;  in  ever)'  part  of  the 
congregation,  somebody  or  other  began  to  cry  out,  and  al- 
most all  melted  into  tears.  This  abated  for  a  few  moments  ;  " 
but  an  incident,  which  Whiiefield  seized  with  his  characteris- 
tic skill,  or  rather,  with  an  instinct  of  feeling,  more  unerring 
than  skill,  quite  overpowered  them.  A  little  boy,  seven  or 
eight  years  old,  began  to  weep  "as  though  his  little  heart 
would  break.  Mr.  Cross,  having  compassion  on  him,  took 
him  up  into  the  wagon,  which  so  affected  me,  that  I  broke 
from  my  discourse,  and  told  the  people  the  little  boy  should 
preach  to  them  ;  and  that  God,  since  old  professors  would 
not  cry  after  Christ,  had  displayed  his  sovereignty,  and  out 
of  an  infant's  mouth  was  perfecting  praise.  God  so  blessed 
this,  that  an  universal  concern  fell  on  the  congregation  again. 
Fresh  persons  dropped  down  here  and  there,  and  the  cry  in- 
creased more  and  more."  In  the  evening,  Tennent  preach- 
ed in  Mr.  Cross'  barn,  about  two  miles  off,  "  excellently 
well,  upon  the  necessity  and  benefit  of  spiritual  desertions." 
What  a  subject,  for  a  sermon  in  a  barn  in  the  night  !  It 
was  powerfully  felt.  "  I  then  began  to  pray,  and  felt  the 
Spirit  of  God  working  in  me  mightily.  A  great  commotion 
was  soon  observed  among  the  hearers.  I  then  gave  a  word 
of  exhortation.  The  Lord's  presence  attended  it  in  a  sur- 
prising manner.  One,  in  about  six  minutes,  cried  out, 
'  He  is  come,  he  is  come,  '  and  could  scarce  sustain 
the  discovery  that  .Tesus  Christ  made  to  his  soul."  The 
idea  of  the  pardoning  love  of  God  in  Christ,  as  ready  and 
sufficient  to  satisfy  all  the  wants'  of  his  soul,  bursting  at  once 
upon  his  mind,  that  had  been  in  agony  to  find  some  ground 
of  hope,  produced  a  joyful  revulsion  of  feeling  which  he 
could  scarcely  bear.  What  wonder,  if  a  clear,  distinct  im- 
age of  Christ,  on  his  cross,  or  crowned  with  thorns,  or  smil- 
ing from  his  throne,  was  then  before  his  mind  !  Or  rather, 
how  could  it  be  otherwise  ? 

The  next  morning,  he  exhorted,  sung  and  prayed  with  the 
people  at  the  barn,  and,  after  some  delightful  conversation, 
10      . 


110  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

rode  to  New  Brunswick,  Gilbert  Tennent's  home.  Here 
he  found  letters  from  Georgia.  One  of  ihcni  informed  him 
that  a  minister  was  coming  over  to  supply  his  place,  which 
rejoiced  him  much,  as  he  had  resolved  to  give  up  the  "  liv- 
ing." "  A  parish  and  an  orphan  house  together  are  too 
much  for  me.  Besides,  God  seems  to  show  me  it  is  my 
duty  to  evangelize,  and  not  to  fix  in  any  particular  place." 
Here  \yilliam  Tennent  met  them,  and  it  was  decided  that 
Gilbert  should  go  to  Boston.  When  it  was  first  proposed, 
Gilbert  was  unwilling  to  go,  "  urging  his  inability  for  so  great 
a  work  ;"  for,  whatever  may  be  the  propriety  of  the  term 
now,  Boston  was  then,  unquestionably,  die  ''  literary  empori- 
um" of  the  whole  country,  and  its  ministers,  as  a  body,  were 
eminently  holy  men  ;  and  Gilbert,  though  never  daunted 
at  the  sight  of  opposers,  felt  unfit  for  the  station  which  he 
must  occupy  amongst  them.  But  after  full  consultation  and 
prayer,  it  was  thought  to  be  his  duty  to  go,  and  lie  said, 
"  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done."  Passing  by  Trenton,  in 
company  with  Davenport,  and  having  twice  narrowly  escap- 
ed drowning,  Whitefield  arrived  on  Saturday  evening  at  Phil- 
adelphia. 

The  next  day,  he  preached  twice  in  the  house  which  his 
friends  were  building  for  him.  The  roof  was  not  yet  up,  but 
a  temporary  floor  was  laid  and  pulpit  raised,  and  "several 
thousands"  attended.  "  Both  in  the  morning  and  evening, 
God's  glory  filled  the  house  ;  for  there  was  great  power  in 
the  congregation."  He  stayed  here  more  than  a  week, 
preaching  daily,  and  talking  with  those  who  had  been  affect- 
ed by  his  discourses. 

"  It  would  be  almost  endless,"  he  remarked  at  its  close, 
"  to  recount  all  the  particular  instances  of  God's  grace,  which 
I  have  seen  this  week  past.  Many  that  were  before  only 
convicted,  now  plainly  proved  that  they  were  converted,  and 
had  a  clear  evidence  of  it  within  themselves.  My  chief  busi- 
ness was  now  to  build  up  and  to  exhort  them  to  continue  in 
the  grace  of  God.  iNotwithstanding,  many  were  convicted 
almost  every  day,  and  came  unto  me  under  the  greatest  dis- 
tress and  anguish  of  soul.  Several  societies  are  now  in  the 
town,  not  only  of  men  and  women,  but  of  little  boys  and  lit- 
tle girls.  Being  so  engaged,  I  could  not  visit  them  as  I 
would  ;  but  I  hope  the  Lord  will  raise  me  up  some  fellow 
laborers,  and  that  elders   will  be  ordained  in  every  place. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  1  1  1 

Then  shall  we  see  a  glorious  church  settled  and  established 
in  Philadelphia."  Tiie  church  was  afterwards  established, 
and  riilbert  Tennent  became  its  pastor. 

W  iiiiL'fiL'ld  left  Philadelphia,  November  17,  and,  passing 
over  into  New  Jersey,  preached  at  (Gloucester.  His  heart 
"was  low,"  and  he  could  not  preach  with  his  usual  vigor. 
"  However,  there  was  an  affecting  melting,  and  several,  who 
had  been  in  bondage  before,  at  that  time  received  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost."  He  rode  on  to  Clroniwich,  where  he 
"preached  to  a  few,  with  scarce  any  power."  The  next 
day,  in  a  congregation  of  two  thousand  at  Pilrsgrove,  he 
"  saw  only  a  few  affected  ;"  but  at  night  he  prayed,  and  ex- 
horted with  great  power  in  ilie  family  where  he  lodged.  On 
the  19th,  at  Cohansie,  where  Gilbert  Tenneni  had  prepared 
the  way  for  him,  he  "  preached  to  some  thousands,  both 
morning  and  afternoon.  'I'lie  word  gradually  struck  the 
hearers,  till  liie  whole  congregation  was  greatly  moved  in- 
deed, and  two  cried  out  in  the  bitterness  of  their  souls  after  a 
crucified  fSaviour,  and  were  scarce  able  to  stand."  His 
"  soul  was  replenished  as  with  new  wine,  and  life  and  power 
flew  all  around."  .\t  Salem,  on  the  20th,  he  preached  in 
the  morning  in  the  court-house,  and  in  the  afternoon  in  the 
open  air  before  the  |)rison,  to  about  two  thousand.  "  IJoth 
times,  God  was  with  us."  The  next  morning  he  preached 
in  the  court-house  at  New  Castle,  where  he  "  observed  some 
few  affected,  and  some  few  scoffmg."  Here  he  was  joined 
by  Charles  Tennent.  As  they  went  on  they  met  ^Ir.  An- 
derson, who  had  opposed  him  last  spring  at  Fagg's  Manor, 
and  who  proposed  to  have  a  "  conference"  wiUi  him.  "  I 
told  him,"  says  Wliitcficld,  "  since  he  had  begun  by  sending 
the  (Queries  in  public,  I  was  resolved  to  decline  all  private 
conversation.  This,  as  I  afterwards  found,  highly  offended 
him."  Perhaps  he  had  some  reason  to  be  offended  ;  for,  so 
far  as  any  public  act  was  concerned,  Blair  and  Charles  Ten- 
nent had  as  much  to  do  with  sending  out  the  Queries,  as 
Anderson.  At  Whiteclay  Creek,  where  "  many  thousands 
were  waiting  to  hear  the  word,"  two  or  three  more  of  An- 
derson's associates  were  present ;  and  Whitefield  sang,  with 
"  unspeakable  comfort,"  the  twenty-third  psalm  : — 

"  In  presence  of 


I  presence  of  my  spiteful  foes, 
He  does  my  table  spread." 


112  THE  GREAT  AWAKENIiNG. 

Here  "  the  melting  soon  began,  and  the  power  increased 
more  and  more,  till  the  greatest  part  of  the  congregation  was 
exceedingly  moved.  Several  cried  out  in  different  parts, 
and  others  were  to  be  seen  wringing  their  hands  and  weeping 
bitterly.  The  stir  was  ten  times  greater  than  when  I  was 
here  last."  At  Fagg's  Manor  he  preached  to  "many  thou- 
sands," among  whom  there  was  a  "  wondrous  powerful 
moving,"  but  not  so  great  as  on  his  former  visit.  At  Not- 
tingham he  had  a  large  congregation,  notwithstanding  the 
rain.  Here  his  doctrine  distilled  "  like  the  dew."  At  Bo- 
hemia, in  Maryland,  "  preached  in  the  afternoon  to  about 
two  thousand,  and  have  not  seen  a  more  solid  melting,  I 
think,  since  my  arrival.  Some  scoffers  stood  on  the  outside, 
but  the  Holy  Spirit  enabled  me  to  lay  the  terrors  of  the  Lord 
before  them,  and  they  grew  more  serious."  The  next  day, 
Tuesday,  November  25th,  he  arrived  at  Reedy  Island,  * 
where  he  waited  for  a  wind  till  December  1 ,  and  then  sailed 
for  Charleston.  During  this  detention,  he  preached  almost 
daily,  and  with  good  effect.  He  "  was  greatly  delighted  to 
see  the  captains  of  ships,  and  their  respective  crews,  come 
constantly  to  hear  ihe  word  on  shore,  and  join  in  religious 
exercises  on  board." 

On  sailing  from  Reedy  Island,  he  wrote  in  his  journal : 
"  But  before  I  go  on,  stop,  O  my  soul,  and  look  back  a 
little  on  the  great  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for  thee  during 
this  excursion.  I  think  it  is  now  the  75th  day  since  I  arriv- 
ed at  Rhode  Island.  My  body  was  then  weak,  but  the  Lord 
has  much  renewed  its  strength.  I  have  been  enabled  to 
preach,  I  think,  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  times  in  public, 
besides  exhorting  very  frequently  in  private.  I  have  travelled 
upwards  of  eight  hundred  miles,  and  gotten  upwards  of  £  700 
sterling  in  goods,  provisions  and  money  for  my  poor  orphans. 
Never  did  God  vouchsafe  me  such  great  assistances.  Never 
did  I  perform  my  journeys  with  so  little  fatigue,  or  see  such 
a  continuance  of  the  divine  presence  in  the  congregations  to 
whom  I  have  preached.  All  things  concur  to  convince  me, 
that  America  is  to  be  my  chief  scene  of  action." 

Whitefield,  having  touched  and  preached  at  Charleston  by 
the  way,  reached  Savannah  on  the  20th  of  December  ;  and 
after  rejoicing  over  a  few  instances  of  conversion,  and  having 

*Not  Rhode  Island,  as  Gillies  has  it. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  113 

arranged  the  affairs  of  the  orphan  house,  he  preached  his  fare- 
well sermon  on  the  evening  of  the  29th,  and  left  the  place  the 
next  day,  to  embark  for  England.  January  1,  1741,  he  was 
at  Jonathan  Bryan'.>,  where  he  preached  in  the  evening. 
"  The  Lord  made  it  a  Bethel."  Hugh  Bryan  was  present. 
He  had  lately  lost  his  wife.  Whitefield  copied  his  letter, 
giving  an  account  of  her  death,  into  his  journal,  with  evident 
gratification.  It  shows  that  both  Bryan  and  his  wife,  though 
very  pious  persons,  perhaps,  were  rather  weak-minded,  and 
not  very  well  informed,  and  that  Whitefield  immensely  over- 
rated them. 

On  arriving  at  Charleston,  Whitefield  found  that  some,  of 
whom  he  had  hoped  well,  had  fallen  away  ;  but  the  greatest 
part  continued  steadfast,  while  his  enemies  were  even  more 
enraged  than  formerly.  His  connexion  with  the  Bryans  had 
furnished  them  with  an  opportunity  to  show  it.  Hugh  had 
written  a  letter,  in  which,  among  other  matters,  "  it  was  hint- 
ed that  the  clergy  break  their  canons."  At  Jonathan's  re- 
quest, Whitefield  had  corrected  it  for  the  press.  It  was 
published  this  week.  Hugh  was  apprehended,  and  on  his 
examination,  being  asked,  confessed  that  Whitefield  had 
corrected  it,  and  made  some  alterations  in  it. 

In  consequence  of  this  confession,  Whitefield  received  on 
Saturday  a  summons  to  appear  and  answer  for  having  "  com- 
posed a  false,  malicious,  scandalous  and  infamous  libel  against 
the  clergy"  of  South  Carolina.  He  gave  securities  to  ap- 
pear by  his  attorney  at  the  next  quarter-sessions,  under  pen- 
alty of  £  100  proclamation  money.  "  Blessed  be  God,"  he 
exclaimed  in  his  journal,  "  for  this  further  honor.  My  soul 
rejoices  in  it.  I  think  this  may  be  called  persecution.  I 
think  it  is  for  righteousness'  sake."  The  next  morning  he 
preached  on  Herod's  sending  the  wise  men  to  find  out  Christ, 
professing  a  desire  to  worship  him,  but  intending  to  kill  him  ; 
persecution,  under  pretence  of  religion.  The  afternoon  ser- 
mon was  on  the  murder  of  Naboth  ;  the  abuse  of  power  by 
men  in  authority.  "  My  hearers,"  he  says,  "  as  well  as 
myself,  made  the  application.  It  was  pretty  close."  No 
doubt  it  was. 

From  this  time  till  Friday,  when  he  embarked  for  England, 
he  preached  twice  a  day,  and  expounded  in  the  evening,  to 
increasing  congregations,  and  with  increasing  power.  "  I 
never  received  such  generous  tokens  of  love,  I  think,    from 

10* 


114  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

any  people  before,  as  from  some  in  Charleston.  They  so 
loaded  me  with  sea-stores,  that  I  sent  much  of  them  to  Sa- 
vannah." Contrary  winds  detained  him  till  January  24, 
when  he  passed  the  bar.  After  a  pleasant  voyage,  he  arrived 
at  Falmouth  on  Wednesday,  March  11,  rode  post  to  Lon- 
don, and  on  the  next  Sabbath  preached  on  Kennington 
Common. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


The  Revival   in  Boston.     The  period  from  Whitefield's  Departure  to 
the  Arrival  of  Davenport;  including  the  Labors  of  Gilbert  Tennent. 

The  history  of  this  period  shall  be  given  nearly  in  the 
words  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  junior  pastor  of  the 
Old  South  Church.     He  says  :  — 

"  Upon  Mr.  Whitefield's  leaving  us,  great  numbers  in  this 
town  were  so  happily  concerned  about  their  souls,  as  we  had 
never  seen  any  thing  like  it  before,  except  at  the  time  of  the 
general  earthquake.  And  their  desires  were  excited  to  hear 
ministers  more  than  ever ;  so  that  our  assemblies,  both  on 
lectures  and  Sabbaths,  were  surprisingly  increased."  Of 
the  time  of  the  earthquake,  he  remarks  in  a  note:  "  Though 
people  were  then  generally  frightened,  and  many  awakened 
to  such  a  sense  of  their  duty  as  to  offer  themselves  to  our 
communion,  yet  very  few  came  to  me  then  under  deep 
convictions  of  their  unconverted  and  lost  condition,  in  com- 
parison of  what  came  now.  Nor  did  those  who  came  to 
me  then,  come  so  much  with  the  inquiry.  What  shall  we  do 
to  be  saved,  as  to  signify  they  had  such  a  sense  of  their 
duty  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Table,  that  they  durst  not  stay 
away  any  longer."     To  proceed  :  — 

"  Upon  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent's  coming  and 
preaching  here,  the  people  appeared  to  be  yet  much  more 
awakened  about  their  souls  than  before.  He  came,  I  think, 
on  Saturday,  December  13th,  this  year  ;  preached  at  the 
New  North  on  both  the  parts  of  the  following  day  ;  as  also 
on  Monday  in  the  afternoon,  when  I  first  heard  him,  and 
there  was  a  great  assembly. 


^-^ 


^'f^-i^'r    C^/y 


/ 


//<':/'/ 


/ 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING  115 

"  He  did  not  indeed  at  first  come  up  to  my  expectation  ; 
but  afterwards  exceeded  it.  In  private  converse  with  "RTm, 
I  found  liiin  to  be  a  man  of  considerable  parts  and  learning; 
free,  gentle,  condescending  ;  and,  from  his  own  various  ex- 
■perience,  reading  the  most  noted  writers  on  experimental 
divinity,  as  well  as  the  Scriptures,  and  conversing  with  many 
who  had  been  awakened  by  his  ministry  in  New  Jersey, 
where  he  tlitMi  lived,  he  seemed  to  have  as  deep  an  acquain- 
tance with  the  experimental  part  of  religion  as  any  1  have 
conversed  with  ;  and  his  preaching  was  as  searching  and 
rousing  as  ever  I  heard. 

"  He  seemed  to  have  no  regard  to  please  the  eyes  of  his 
hearers  with  agreeable  gesture,  nor  their  ears  with  delivery, 
nor  their  fancy  with  language  ;  but  to  aim  directly  at  their 
hearts  and  consciences,  to  lay  open  their  ruinous  delusions, 
show  them  their  numerous,  secret,  hypocritical  shifts  in  reli- 
gion, and  drive  them  out  of  every  deceitful  refuge  wherein 
they  made  themselves  easy,  w  ith  the  form  of  godliness  with- 
out the  j)ower.  And  many  who  were  pleased  in  a  good  con- 
ceit of  themselves  before,  now  found,  to  their  great  distress, 
they  were  only  self-deceived  hypocrites.  And  though,  while 
the  discovery  was  making,  some  at  first  raged,  as  they  have 
owned  to  me  and  others,  yet  in  the  progress  of  the  discovery 
many  were  forced  to  submit ;  and  then  the  power  of  God  so 
broke  and  humbled  them,  that  they  wanted  a  further  and  even 
a  thorough  discovery  ;  they  went  to  hear  him,  that  the  secret 
corruptions  and  delusions  of  their  hearts  might  be  more  dis- 
covered ;  and  the  more  searching  the  sermon,  the  more  ac- 
ceptable it  was  to  their  anxious  minds. 

"  From  the  terrible  and  deep  convictions  he  had  passed 
through  in  his  own  soul,  he  seemed  to  have  such  a  lively  view 
of  the  divine  majesty,  the  spirituality,  purity,  extensive- 
ness  and  strictness  of  his  law  ;  with  his  glorious  holiness, 
and  displeasure  at  sin,  his  justice,  truth  and  power  in  pun- 
ishing the  damned  ;  that  the  very  terrors  of  God  seemed  to 
rise  in  his  mind  afresh,  when  he  displayed  and  brandished 
them  in  the  eyes  of  unreconciled  sinners.  And  though 
some  could  not  bear  the  representation,  and  avoided  his 
preaching ;  yet  the  arrows  of  conviction,  by  his  ministry, 
seemed  so  deeply  to  pierce  the  hearts  of  others,  and  even 
some  of  the  most  stubborn  sinners,  as  to  make  them  fall  down 
at  the  feet  of  Christ,  and  yield  a  lowly  submission  to  him. 


116  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

*'  I  do  not  remember  any  crying  out,  or  falling  down,  or 
fainting,  either  under  Mr.  Whitetield's  or  Mr.  Tennent's 
ministry,  all  the  while  they  were  here  ;  though  many,  both 
women  and  men,  both  those  who  had  been  vicious,  and 
those  who  had  been  moral,  yea,  some  religious  and  learned, 
as  well  as  unlearned,  were  in  great  concern  of  soul. 

"  As  to  Mr.  Tennent's  preaching  :  It  was  frequently  both 
terrible  and  searching.  It  was  often  for  matter  justly  terri- 
ble, as  he,  according  to  the  inspired  oracles,  exhibited  the 
dreadful  holiness,  justice,  law,  threatenings,  truth,  power,  maj- 
esty of  God  ;  and  his  anger  with  rebellious,  impenitent,  un- 
believing and  Christless  sinners  ;  the  awful  danger  they  were 
every  moment  in  of  being  struck  down  to  hell,  and  being 
damned  for  ever  ;  with  the  amazing  miseries  of  that  place  of 
torment.  But  his  exhibitions,  both  for  matter  and  manner, 
fell  inconceivably  below  the  reality  :  And  though  this  terri- 
ble preaching  may  strongly  work  on  the  animal  passions  and 
frighten  the  hearers,  rouse  the  soul,  and  prepare  the  way  for 
terrible  convictions  ;  yet  those  mere  animal  terrors  and  these 
convictions  are  quite  different  things. 

"  Such  were  the  convictions  wrought  in  many  hundreds  in 
this  town  by  Mr.  Tennent's  searching  ministry  :  and  such 
was  the  case  of  those  many  scores  of  several  other  con- 
gregations as  well  as  mine,  who  cSme  to  me  and  others  for 
direction  under  them.*^  And  indeed  by  all  their  converse  I 
lound,  it  was  not  so  much  the  terror  as  the  searching  nature 
of  his  ministry,  that  was  the  principal  means  of  their  convic- 
tion. It  was  not  merely,  nor  so  much,  his  laying  open  the 
terrors  of  the  law  and  wrath  of  God,  or  damnation  of  hell  ; 
(for  this  they  could  pretty  well  bear,  as  long  as  they  hoped 
these  belonged  not  to  them,  or  they  could  easily  avoid 
them  ;)  as  his  laying  open  their  many  vain  and  secret  shifts 
and  refuges,  counterfeit  resemblances  of  grace,  delusive  and 
damning  hopes,  their  utter  impotence,  and  impending  danger 
of  destruction  ;  whereby  they  found  all  their  hopes  and  refu- 
ges of  lies  to  fail  them,  and  themselves  exposed  to  eternal 
ruin,  unable  to  help  themselves,  and  in  a  lost  condition. 
This  searching  preaching  was  both  the  suitable  and  princi- 
pal means  of  their  conviction. 


*  "  The  same  kind  of  searching  preaching  by  our  own  ministers  and  oth- 
ers, I  also  observed  was  the  most  successful  means  of  bringing  people  into 
powerful  convictions,  or  clear  and  awakening  views  of  their  sinful  and  lost 
condition,  and  their  absolute  need  of  Christ  to  find  and  save  them." 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  117 

"On  Monday  March  2,  1741,  Mr.  Tennent  preached 
his  farewell  sermon  to  the  people  of  Boston,  from  Acts  xi. 
23,  to  an  auditory  extremely  crowded,  very  attentive  and 
much  affected,  in  Dr.  Colman's  house  of  worship.  It  was 
an  affectionate  parting,  and  as  great  numbers  of  all  condi- 
tions and  ages  appeared  awakened  by  him,  there  seemed  to 
be  a  general  sadness  at  his  going  away. 

"  Though  it  was  natural  for  them  to  resort  abundantly  to 
him  by  whom  it  pleased  the  sovereign  God  chiefly  to  awaken 
them,  for  advice  in  their  soul  concerns  ;  yet  while  he  was 
here,  many  repaired  to  their  ministers  also,  and  many  more 
and  oftener  when  he  was  gone.  Mr.  Tennent's  ministry, 
with  the  various  cases  of  those  resorting  to  us,  excited  us  to 
treat  more  largely  of  the  workings  of  the  Spirit  of  grace,  as 
a  spirit  of  conviction  and  conversion,  consolation  and  edifi- 
cation in  the  souls  of  men,  agreeable  to  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  the  common  experiences  of  true  believers. 

"  And  now  was  such  a  time  as  we  never  knew.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Cooper  was  wont  to  say,  that  more  came  to  him 
in  one  week  in  deep  concern  about  their  souls,  than  in  the 
whole  twenty-four  years  of  his  preceding  ministry.  I  can 
also  say  the  same  as  to  the  numbers  who  repaired  to  me. 
By  Mr.  Cooper's  letter  to  his  friend  in  Scotland,  it  appears, 
he  has  had  about  six  hundred  different  persons  in  three 
months'  time  ;  and  Mr.  Webb  informs  me,  he  has  had  in  the 
same  space  above  a  thousand. 

"  x\greeable  to  the  numerous  bills  of  the  awakened  put  up 
in  public,  sometimes  rising  to  the  number  of  sixty  at  once, 
there  repaired  to  us  both  boys  and  girls,  young  men  and  wo- 
men, Indians  and  Negroes,  heads  of  families,  aged  persons  ; 
those  who  had  been  in  full  communion  and  going  on  in  a 
course  of  religion  many  years.  And  their  cases  represented 
were ;  a  blind  mind,  a  vile  and  hard  heart,  and  some  under  a 
deep  sense  thereof;  some  under  great  temptations  ;  some  in 
great  concern  for  their  souls  ;  some  in  great  distress  of  mind 
for  fear  of  being  unconverted  ;  others  for  fear  they  had  been 
all  along  building  on  a  righteousness  of  their  own,  and  were 
still  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  bond  of  iniquity.  Some 
under  flighty,  others  under  strong  convictions  of  their  sins 
and  sinfulness,  guilt  and  condemnation,  the  wrath  and  curse 
of  God  upon  them,  their  impotence  and  misery  ;  some  for  a 
long  time,  even  for  several  months  under  these  convictions  : 


118  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING 

some  fearing  least  the  Holy  Spirit  should  withdraw  ;  others 
having  quenched  his  operations,  were  in  great  distress  lest 
he  should  leave  them  for  ever  :  persons  far  advanced  in  years, 
afraid  of  being  left  behind,  while  others  were  hastening  to 
the  great  Redeemer. 

"  Nor  were  the  same  persons  satisfied  with  coming  once  or 
twice,  as  formerly,  but  again  and  again,  I  know  not  how  of- 
ten ;  complaining  of  their  evil  and  cursed  hearts  ;  of  their 
past  and  present  unbelief,  pride,  hypocrisy,  perfidiousness, 
contempt  of  Christ  and  God,  and  alienation  from  them,  their 
love  and  captivity  to  sin,  and  utter  impotence  to  help  them- 
selves, or  even  to  believe  on  Christ,  &c.,  renouncing  every 
degree  of  worthiness  in  and  utterly  condemning  themselves  ; 
greatly  afraid  of  deceiving  their  own  souls  ;  and  earnestly 
desirous  of  being  searched,  discovered,  and  shown  the  true 
way  of  salvation. 

"  The  people  seemed  to  love  to  hear  us  more  than  ever. 
The  weekly  Tuesday  evening  lectures  at  the  church  in  Brat- 
tle street  were  much  crowded  and  not  sufficient.  April  17, 
1741,  another  lecture  was  therefore  opened  every  Friday 
evening  at  the  South  Church  ;  and  soon  after,  another  lec- 
ture every  Tuesday  and  Friday  evening  was  opened  at  the 
New  North  ;  three  of  the  most  capacious  houses  of  public 
worship  in  town,  the  least  of  which  I  suppose  will  hold  three 
thousand  people  ;  besides  the  ancient  lecture  every  Thurs- 
day noon  at  the  Old  Church,  and  other  lectures  in  other 
churches. 

"  Nor  were  the  people  satisfied  with  all  these  lectures: 
But  as  private  societies  for  religious  exercises,  both  of 
younger  and  elder  persons,  both  of  males  and  females  by 
themselves,  in  several  parts  of  the  town,  now  increased  to 
a  much  greater  number  than  ever,  viz.,  to  near  the  number  of 
thirty,  meeting  on  Lord's  day,  Monday,  Wednesday  and 
Thursday  evenings  ;  so  the  people  were  constantly  employ- 
ing the  ministers  to  pray  and  preach  at  those  societies,  as  also 
at  many  private  houses  where  no  formed  society  met :  and 
such  numbers  flocked  to  hear  us  as  greatly  crowded  them, 
as  well  as  more  than  usually  filled  our  houses  of  public  wor- 
ship both  on  Lord's  days  and  lectures,  especially  evening 
lectures,  for  about  a  twelvemonth  after. 

"  Some  of  our  ministers,  to  oblige  the  people,  have  some- 
times preached  in  pubhc  and  private    at  one  house  or  anoth- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKEiNING.  119 

er,  even  every  evening,  except  after  Saturday,  for  a  week 
together ;  and  the  more  we  prayed  and  preached,  the  more 
enlarged  were  our  hearts,  and  the  more  dehghtful  the  em- 
ployment. And  O,  how  many,  how  serious  and  attentive 
were  our  hearers  !  How  many  awakened  and  hopefully  con- 
verted by  their  ministers  !  And  how  many  of  such  added 
soon  to  our  churches,  as  we  hope  will  be  saved  eternally  ! 
Scarce  a  sermon  seemed  to  be  preached  without  some  good 
impressions. 

"As  the  church  to  which  I  belong — within  six  months 
from  the  end  of  January,  1741,  were  threescore  joined  to 
our  communicants,  the  greater  part  of  whom  gave  a  more 
exact  account  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  on  their 
souls  in  effectual  calling,  as  described  in  the  Westminster 
Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism,  than  I  was  wont  to  meet 
with  before  ;  besides  many  others  I  could  not  but  have 
charity  for,  who  refrained  from  coming  to  the  table  of  Christ, 
for  want  of  a  satisfying  view  of  the  work  of  renovation  in 
them.  Mr.  Tennent  being  so  exceeding  strict  in  cautioning 
people  from  running  into  churches,  taking  the  sacred  cove- 
nant, and  receiving  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  seal  thereof,  until 
they  had  saving  grace ;  that  divers,  brought  to  very  hopeful 
dispositions,  yea,  some,  I  doubt  not,  to  embrace  the  Saviour 
in  all  his  offices,  were  through  fear  and  darkness  kept  from 
coming  into  full  communion.  Or  otherwise,  many  more  I 
believe,  would  have  entered  ;  who,  had  they  the  like  experi- 
ences a  year  before,  I  doubt  not  would  have  readily  offered 
themselves,  and  we  should  have  as  readily  received  them, 
and  would  now,  as  some  of  the  most  hopeful  Christians.  So 
far  did  Mr.  Tennent's  awakening  ministry  shake  their  hopes 
and  hinder  them,  that  those  whom  I  apprehended  to  be  thrif- 
ty, and  thought  myself  obliged  to  encourage,  I  foimd  the  im- 
pressions of  his  preaching  had  discouraged. 

"By  Dr.  Colman's  letter  of  June  8,  1741,  it  appears 
'that  in  1741,  in  April,  there  were  nine  or  ten,  and  in  May 
were  nineteen  added  to  his  church  ;  among  whom  (says 
the  Doctor)  were  many  of  the  rich  and  polite  of  our  sons 
and  daughters.' 

"  And  the  Rev.  Mr.  Webb,  senior  pastor  of  the  New 
North,  just  now  informs  me  with  respect  to  his  church  and 
people,  in  the  following  words  :  —  '  Admissions  to  full  com- 
munion of  those  hopefully  wrought  upon  in  the  late   day  of 


f 


120  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

grace,  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  :  of  which  one  hundred 
and  two  from  Jamiui} ,  1741,  to  1742.  Of  the  above  men- 
tioned, by  far  the  greater  part  have  since  given  hopeful  signs 
of  saving  conversion.  And  many  more  give  good  eviden- 
ces of  grace  ;  but  for  the  reasons  in  your  account  [above], 
cannot  be  prevailed  upon  to  come  to  the  table  of  the  Lord. 

"  In  this  year  1741,  the  very  face  of  the  town  seemed  to 
be  strangely  altered.  Some,  who  had  not  been  here  since 
the  fall  before,  have  told  me  their  great  surprise  at  the 
change  in  the  general  look  and  carriage  of  people,  as  soon  as 
they  landed.  Even  the  negroes  and  boys  in  the  streets  sur- 
prisingly left  their  usual  rudeness.  I  knew  many  of  these  had 
been  greatly  affected,  and  now  were  formed  into  religious  so- 
cieties. And  one  of  our  worthy  gentlemen  expressing  his 
wonder  at  the  remarkable  change,  informed  me,  that  whereas 
he  used  with  others  on  Saturday  evenings  to  visit  the  taverns, 
in  order  to  clear  them  of  town  inhabitants,  they  were  wont 
to  find  many  there,  and  meet  with  trouble  to  get  them  away  ; 
but  now,  having  gone  at  those  seasons  again,  he  found  them 
empty  of  all  but  lodgers. 

"  And  thus  successfully  did  this  divine  work,  as  above 
described,  go  on  in  town,  without  any  lisp,  as  I  remem- 
,ber,  of  a  separation,  either  in  this  town  or  province,  for 
above  a  year  and  a  half  after  Mr.  Whitefield  left  us."  Then 
Davenport  arrived,  and  the  aspect  of  things  was  suddenly 
and  sadly  changed.  But  what  then  occurred,  must  be  relat- 
ed in  another  connexion. 


CHAPTER  X. 


The  Revival  in  New  England.    Natick,  Wrentham,  and  Bridgewater. 
Exhorters  and  Raptures  in  Bridgewater. 

NATICK. 

The  revival  in  this  town  seems  to  have  been  worthy  of  a 
more  particular  account  than  we  have  of  it.  Here  convic- 
tions began  before  Whitefield's  arrival  in  New  England  ; 
though  they  were  for  some  time  concealed  from  all  but  those 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  121 

who  felt  them.     The  pastor,  the  Rev.  Oliver  Peabody,  wrote, 
July  4,  1743.  * 

"  There  have  been  very  observable  strivings  of  the  ever 
blessed  Spirit  on  the  hearts  of  many,  especially  young  peo- 
ple, in  convincing  and  enlightening,  and  I  hope  converting 
them,  in  my  neighbouring  towns  ;  as  in  Medfield,  Dedham, 
Needham,  Med  way,  and  Sherbourn,  &c.  where  the  ministers 
have  been  lively  and  faithful.  And  among  my  little  people, 
(I  would  mention  it  to  the  glory  of  the  rich  grace,  and  of  the 
blessed  Spirit  of  God,)  there  have  been  very  apparent  striv- 
ings and  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost  among  Indians  and 
English,  young  and  old,  male  and  female.  There  have  been 
added  to  our  church,  of  such  as  I  hope  shall  be  saved, 
about  fifty  persons  of  different  nations,  since  the  beginning  of 
last  March  was  two  years,  whose  lives  in  general  witness  to 
the  sincerity  of  their  profession.  Here,  we  have  never  had 
any  crying  out  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  but  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  been  pleased  to  work  in  a  more  calm  way  ;  but  I , 
hope  effectually.  But  I  must  mention  it,  although  with  sor- 
row, that  for  some  months  past,  (although  some  are  under 
powerful  operations,)  yet  there  has  not  appeared  so  much  of 
the  genuine  operations  of  the  Spirit  as  heretofore  ;  people's  / 
minds  have  seemed  and  do  seem  too  much  taken  up  with  dis-  \ 
puting  about  persons  and  things  ;  some  are  for  one  minister 
and  some  for  another  ;  and  some,  I  think  I  may  say,  cannot 
bear  sound  doctrine  ;  which  with  us  has  arisen,  as  I  appre- 
hend, from  some  ignorant  and  erroneous  persons,  who  have 
spread  and  propagated  corrupt  doctrines.  As  a  specimen 
of  this,  they  say  I  preach  dangerous  doctrines,  because  I  have 
preached  that  a  person  may  be  converted  and  not  certainly 
know  it." 

WRENTHAM. 

Of  the  revival  in  Wrentham,  the  Rev.  Henry  Messenger, 
pastor  of  the  First  Church,  and  Rev.  Elias  Haven,  pastor  of 
the  Second,  have  given  a  more  particular  account,  dated 
August  12,  1743.  t 

"  The  people  of  this  town,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  or  have 
had  opportunity  to  observe,  have  generally  been  externally 
sober  and  honest  ;  have   kept  up   a  great  deal  of  external 

*  Chr.  Hist.  Vol.  I.  page  J83.  t  Ibid.  238. 

11 


\ 


122  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

religion,  especially  in  their  families,  and  the  house  of  God  ; 
so  that  the  generations  that  have  risen  up  from  time  to  time, 
have  generally  been  instructed,  from  their  very  early  youth, 
in  the  first  principles  of  our  holy  religion.  But,  alas  !  for  a 
long  time  past,  the  power  of  godliness  has  been  evident  but 
in  comparatively  few  instances,  till  the  blessed  revival  of 
religion  the  Almighty  God  has  lately  favored  us  with.  And 
just  before  the  descent  of  these  late  remarkable  showers  of 
divine  influence,  religion  was  plainly  in  a  languishing  condi- 
tion. Even  some  externals  of  it  began  to  be  more  and  more 
neglected  ;  insomuch  that  in  the  year  1739,  there  were  but 
two  in  the  whole  town  admitted  to  the  l^ord's  table  :  and 
vices  of  various  sorts  were  much  more  prevalent  than  before. 

"  The  first  open  and  public  manifestation  of  the  Lord's 
return  to  us  by  the  power  of  his  grace,  was  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  February,  1741.  It  was  the  day  appointed  by  the 
government  to  be  kept  with  solemn  fasting  and  prayer 
throughout  this  province,  to  implore  the  blessings  of  Heav- 
en on  our  nation  in  the  war  with  Spain,  &c.  and  the  day  in 
course  for  the  public  lecture  preparatory  to  the  administration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  Second  Church  in  this  town  ; 
where  on  this  double  occasion  the  minister  preached  from 
Zechariah,  12  :  10.  There  appeared,  especially  in  the  after- 
noon, a  very  uncommon  attentiveness  upon  the  word,  a  won- 
derful tenderness  upon  the  assembly.  The  tokens  of  a  very 
serious  concern  were  visible  on  many  faces.  And  though 
there  is  sufficient  reason  to  believe  that  many  persons,  before 
this,  were  under  considerable  convictions,  and  abode  so  after 
the  day  above  said,  yet  they  kept  their  concern  very  much  to 
themselves  until  some  time  in  March  following,  when  they 
could  no  longer  conceal  their  distresses  ;  they  began  to 
lament  their  own  cases  to  one  another,  and  to  come  frequently 
to  their  minister  under  soul-trouble.  It  was  very  agreeably 
surprising  almost  daily  to  hear  of  new  instances  of  young  per- 
sons (for  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  seemed  to  be  chiefly  on  / 
young  people)  in  great  concern,  what  they  should  do  to  be 
saved.  The  same  thoughtfulness  seemed  to  run  from  house 
to  house,  and  from  soul  to  soul  ;  and  their  complaints  against 
themselves  were  very  much  the  same. 

"  It  was  but  a  little  while  after  this,  before  the  same  Spir- 
it's operations  of  the  same  kind  were  equally  remarkable  in 
the  First  Parish  and  congregation  in  the  town.     Particularly 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  123 

on  the  annual  fast,  April  23,  1741,  was  a  very  open  and 
public  display  of  divine  grace  there,  very  much  as  mentioned 
above,  in  the  other  congregation,  when  the  minister  preached 
from  Jeremiah  2G  :  13  ;  and  many  were  brought  under 
strong  convictions,  and  thenceforward  many  flocked  to  their 
minister,  especially  young  people,  under  soul  distress. 

"  The  powerful  awakenings  and  convictions  on   persons'^ 
minds  spread  from  neighbouihood  to  neighbourhood,  so  that  by 
midsummer  there  were  instances  in  all  parts  of  the  town  under 
great   concern  to   know  what  they  should  do  to   be  saved.J 
Yea,  it  appeared  to  us,  so  far  as  we  could  observe  in  our 
respective  parishes,  that  very  few  houses,  if  any  in  the  town, 
were  passed   by  and  left  without  some  observable  spiritual 
concern  on  some  or  other  of  the  family.     Our  people,  in  gen- 
eral, became  much  more  attentive  in  time  of  public  worship. 
Their   countenances  being   generally  solemn,   listening,  and 
tender,  showed  their  extraordinary  appetite  for  the  word  ;  and 
it  became  a  very  cotnmon  thing  with  us  to  have  a  great  part 
of  the  assembly  in  tears  at  hearing  the  word,  and  especially 
when   they  heard  the   glad  tidings  of  the  gospel,   and   they 
were  invited  to  rest  their  weary  souls  in  Christ  the  Saviour. 
While  we  endeavoured  with  great  plainness  to  show  unto  sin- 
ners their  guilt  and  danger,  and  to  open  the  awful  contents  of 
the  law  to  them,  these  truths  would  often  have  their  proper 
effect,  in  alarming  guilty  consciences,  and  filling  the  minds  of 
many  with  great  concern  for  their  own  souls  ;  and  then  the 
gospel  news  of  a  Saviour,  and  the  freeness  of  divine  grace, 
would  marvellously  melt  a  great    part  of  our  congregations 
into  tears,  and  persuade  them,  by  divine  help,  to  seek  the 
great  salvation.     Nor  have  we  seen  reason  as  yet  to  think 
any  other,  than  that  many  of  these  earnest  seekers  were  sure 
finders  of  the  pearl  of  great  price. 

"  Our  people  grew  very  desirous  of  lectures,  that  they 
might  have  more  frequent  opportunities  for  spiritual  instruc- 
tion, and  to  join  in  social  worship  ;  where  we  found  God 
often  bestowed  his  blessing. 

"  Many  of  our  people,  living  three  or  four  miles  or  more 
from  our  places  of  public  worship,  are  necessitated  to  tarry  at 
or  near  about  the  meetinghouses,  through  the  intermission, 
between  forenoon  and  afternoon  exercises  ;  and  there  used 
to  be  little  else  but  vain  and  worldly  talk  among  most.  But 
upon  the  late  remarkable  divine  influence  on  people's  minds, 


124  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

there  was  a  wonderful  change  in  this  regard  among,  we  think, 
the  greatest  part  of  our  people.  It  became  a  common  thing 
for  them  to  retire  in  small  companies  to  dilFerenl  places,  for 
religious  conferences  or  reading,  and  sometimes  these  exer- 
cises were  mixed.  And  more  lately  there  are  several  socie- 
ties that  spend  part  of  the  intermission  in  praying,  reading, 
and  singing  together.  So  that  on  many  accounts  the  inter- 
mission, as  well  as  time  of  public  exercises  of  God's  wor- 
ship, is  very  remarkably  holy  to  the  Lord,  esteemed  honora- 
ble, and  a  great  delight  unto  the  more  serious  among  us. 
And  even  the  time  of  travel  to  and  from  our  places  of  public 
worship  has  often  been  sweetly  redeemed  for  pious  discourse 
between  two  or  three,  as  they  walk  in  company  together. 

*' We  are  satisfied  that  the  general  concern  upon  people's 
minds,  which  prevailed  among  us  above  two  years  ago,  and 
has  not  ceased,  did  not  arise  from  a  disposition  to  conform  to 
the  prevailing  custom  of  people  around  us  ;  for  this  was  the 
first  town  which  was  so  remarkably  visited  and  blessed  by 
sovereign  grace,  within  many  miles.  And  it  evidently  ap- 
peared that  many  would  be  under  the  same  concern  at  the 
same  time,  and  would  be  agreeably  surprised  when  they 
unexpectedly  found  one  another  uttering  the  same  complaints 
relating  to  the  state  of  their  own  souls. 

"  It  is  also  very  evident  that  this  general  awakening  was  not 
from  the  influence  of  travelling  ministers  (though  we  are  satis-   / 
fied  God  has  made  use  of  some  of  them  for  the  revival  of  reli- 
gion in  many  places  ) ;  for  there  was  but  one  sermon  preach- 
ed in  the  town  in  such  a  way,  and  tliat  to  a  small  auditory. 

"And  here  it  is  very  observable,  that  there  was  a  spirit  of 
conviction  on  the  hearts  of  many,  in  the  winter,  before  it  was 
externally  very  evident  ;  when,  by  the  extremity  of  the  win- 
ter and  depth  of  the  snow,  many  of  our  people  could  not  for 
many  Sabbaths  together  attend  on  the  ordinary  and  stated 
exercises  of  religion  ;  so  clearly  was  it  the  work  of  God. 
'  Nevertheless,  we  are  glad  to  own,  that  the  news  of  many  con- 
versions in  Northampton  and  other  towns  in  that  part  of  the 
country  some  years  before,  and  of  some  remarkable  success  ) 
of  the  gospel  in  some  parts  of  England  and  America,  were 
means  of  stirring  up  thoughtfulness  in  many,  and  encouraged 
godly  persons  to  pray  with  the  more  confidence  for  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Ghost  also  on  us. 

"  Many  came  to  offer  themselves  to  join  in  church-fellow- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKEMNG.  125 

ship,  whom  we  looked  upon  ourselves  obliged  to  examine 
particularly  of  their  experiences,  which  gave  them  reason  to 
hope  that  they  could  in  sincerity  enter  into  solemn  covenant 
with  God  and  his  people.  Our  times  for  the  administration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  each  church  are  two  months  apart; 
and  into  the  Second  Church  in  the  town  (which  before  con- 
sisted of  sixty-three'  communicants,  and  the  parish  of  about 
seventy  families),  just  before  the  sacrament,  May  3,  1741, 
were  admitted  twenty-four  more  ;  and  between  the  said 
third  of  May  and  the  first  of  July  following,  were  admitted 
thirty-seven  more  ;  and  considerable  numbers  afterwards  from 
time  to  time. 

"  Into  the  First  Church  in  the  town  (which  before  con- 
sisted of  ninety-two  communicants,  and  the  parish  of  about 
one  hundrelT^hd  {w^nTy~'filVnilies)  were  admitted,  just  be- 
fore the  sacrament,  June  7,  1741,  twenty  more  ;  and  then 
before  August  1,  thirty-eight  more  ;  and  then  before  Oc- 
tober, eighteen  more  ;  and  before  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  supper  there  have  constantly  been  a  considerable 
number  admitted  ever  since  ;  never  less  than  five,  except 
twice,  and  usually  more  at  a  time.  In  short,  one  hundred 
and  thirty-six  communicants  are  added  to  the  First  Church, 
and  eighty-nine  to  the  Second,  since  April,  1741. 

"  Thus  greatly  are  the  numbers  of  our  communicants  in- 
creased ;  and  we  had  opportunity  to  discourse  with  each  of 
those  admitted  into  the  respective  churches  under  our  particu- 
lar watch,  of  the  state  of  their  souls,  and  with  many  of  them 
several  times  ;  as  well  as  with  a  considerable  number  who 
were  professors  before,  and  came  to  us  in  this  remarkable 
day,  fuller  of  concern  about  their  souls  than  usual  ;  and  many 
that  have  been  brought  under  some  convictions,  who  yet 
stand  off  from  the  Lord's  table. 

"  There  was,  about  a  year  ago,  some  decay  among  us. 
But,  blessed  be  God,  among  all  those  that  we  looked  upon, 
in  a  judgment  of  charity,  to  be  born  from  above,  there  has 
not  one  turned  an  open  apostate,  nor  evidently  and  impeni- 
tently  scandalous  in  their  behaviour  ;  nor  have  the  generality 
of  those  who  have  been  in  any  considerable  measure  awaken- 
ed, returned,  in  this  time  of  decay,  to  their  former  heedless 
and  airy  way  of  living  ;  neither  did  the  state  of  religion 
among  us,  nor  the  face  of  the  town,  appear  to  be  at  all  the 
same  as  three  years  ago  ;  and  we  have  reason  to  think,  that 
11* 


126  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

all  this  time  conversions  were  more  frequent  than  for  some 
years  before  1740. 

"  And  the  Lord,  the  overflowing  fountain  of  grace,  hath 
been  pleased  to  visit  us  with  another  plentiful  shower  of 
grace,  and  so  strengthen  that  which  he  had  wrought  for  us. 
It  is  now  above  half  a  year  since  a  second  revival  of  religion 
began  to  be  very  observable  in  the  towfi  ;  first,  in  the  First 
Parish  in  the  town,  and  very  soon  after  in  the  Second.  As 
to  the  substance  of  the  work,  it  appears  to  us  to  be  the  same 
as  was  remarkably  among  us  above  two  years  ago,  of  which 
there  has  never  since  been  a  cessation.  But  there  are  a  few 
things  observable,  which  are  circumstances  attending  the 
work  of  God's  grace  now  among  us,  in  which  there  is  some 
difference.  There  have  not  been  so  great  numbers  brought 
under  convictions  and  the  spirit  of  bondage  now  as  before  ; 
according  to  our  observation.  Some,  who  have  of  late  been 
under  strong  convictions,  have  been  more  suddenly  pricked 
to  the  heart,  and  brought  into  greater  distress,  than  before. 
Some,  who,  we  have  reason  to  hope,  were  sincere  converts 
unto  God  before  the  time  which  we  are  now  speaking  of, 
have  now  been  brought  into  exceeding  great  distress,  at 
renewed  and  clearer  discoveries  of  their  own  hearts,  and  a 
more  bitter  remembrance  of  their  sins. 

"  Not  a  few  of  real  Christians  have  been  more  remarkably 
quickened  now  than  before,  in  their  Christian  walk. 
j  "  There  have  been  not  a  very  few  among  us  within  seven 
/or  eight  months  past,  that  have  cried  out  with  great  agonies 
/  and  distress,  or  with  high  joys  on  spiritual  accounts,  and  that 
in  time  of  religious  exercises.  But  these  two  things  we 
would  observe  relating  to  what  we  have  seen  of  this  nature, 
viz  :  First,  that  we  are  persuaded  that  very  few,  if  any, 
among  us,  have  cried  out  in  such  a  manner  while  they  could 
refrain  ;  and  we  have  ever  cautioned  persons  against  making 
any  outcries  in  time  of  religious  worship,  if  they  could  avoid 
it  without  doing  too  much  violence  to  their  nature,  or  turning 
their  thoughts  from  divine  things  ;  though  we  have  not 
thought  it  ordinarily  proper  to  leave  off  speaking,  or  to  have 
the  persons  so  affected  removed  out  of  the  house.  And 
secondly,  that  we  by  no  means  account  persons  crying  out  in 
time  of  worship,  falling  down,  or  the  degree  of  their  joys  or 
sorrows,  that  might  occasion  these  effects  on  their  bodies,  to 
be  any  sign  of  their  conversion,  when  separately  considered ; 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  127 

and  have  carefully  warned  our  people  against  such  a  way  of 
thinking  ;  though  at  the  same  time  we  cannot  but  think  that 
most  who  have  so  manifested  their  sense  of  things,  were 
under  the  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  the  same  time, 
which  occasioned  these  outcries  ;  and  that  their  inward  ex- 
periences were  substantially  the  same  as  theirs  who  have 
been  savingly  converted  to  God,  as  we  hope,  and  have  given 
no  such  tokens  of  their  distress  or  joys. 

"  Some  among  us  have  not  been  so  well  satisfied,  nor  so 
much  delighted,  with  this  late  revival,  as  they  seemed  to  be 
two  years  ago  ;  and  some,  that  seemed  something  awakened 
then,  have  appeared  to  look  something  strange  upon  what  we 
take  to  be  the  same  work,  now  it  hath  been  attended  with 
some  uncommon  circumstances.  And  we  are  concerned  lest 
some  have  been  prejudiced  against  the  powerful  manner  in 
which  God  hath  been  pleased  to  carry  on  his  own  work,  and 
so  have  lain  the  less  open  to  convictions  and  benefit  by  gos- 
pel ordinances. 

"  We  have  not  known  trances,  visions,  revelations,  or  the 
like.  We  have  had  great  freedom  from  the  appearances  of 
a  censorious  spirit  in  tlie  subjects  of  this  blessed  work ; 
though  some  tender  and  compassionate  expressions  have  been 
misconstrued.  We  have  not  had  a  single  instance,  who 
hath  pretended  to  authoritative  exhorting,  nor  any  that  have 
pleaded  for  it ;  but  Christian  conference  hath  been  much  en- 
couraged and  practised  among  elder  and  younger  people." 

BRIDGEWATER. 

The  Rev.  John  Porter,  pastor  of  the  church  in  North 
Precinct  of  Bridgewater,  was  one  of  "Whitefield's  converts." 
His  account  of  the  revival  in  that  town  is  dated  October  12, 
1743.  After  stating  that  "experimental  religion  and  the 
power  of  godliness  seemed  to  have  taken  their  flight  from 
Bridgewater,"  and  that  the  greater  part  of  the  people  who 
thought  at  all  of  religion,  "rested  in  various  duties,  short  of  \ 
a  saving  closure  with  Christ,"  he  proceeds  :*  "  And  so  Iq  . 
general  they  remained,  very  secure  and  unconcerned  about 
the  great  and  momentous  affair  of  securing  the  salvation  of 
the  soul,  till  sometime  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1741, 
after  the  Reverend  and  dear  Mr.  Whitefield  and  Reverend 

*  Chr.  Hist.,  Vol.  I.  p.  397. 


123  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Mr.  Tennent  had  been  at  Boston,  and  through  the  province, 
preaching  the  everlasting  gospel  with  such  unweariedness  and 
success.  Whose  names,  especially  the  former,  I  shall  al- 
ways mention  with  respect  and  honor,  whatever  others  may 
think  or  say  of  him,  from  the  benefit  one  of  the  meanest  and 
,  most  unworthy  of  Christ's  ministers  hopes  he  received  by 
\his  holy  and  fervent  ministrations  while  at  Boston.  Be  sure 
I  knew  nothing  rightly  of  ray  sin  and  danger,  of  my  need  of 
a  Saviour,  of  the  way  of  salvation  by  him,  neither  was  es- 
tablished in  the  doctrines  of  grace,  (though  a  preacher,  and 
one  who  endeavoured  to  instruct  others  in  the  way,)  till  I 
heard  that  man  of  God.  And  if  the  Lord  had  permitted  me 
to  have  took  the  oversight  of  a  flock,  as  I  had  a  call  to  do, 
and  had  given  my  answer,  the  blind  would  have  led  the  blind, 
and  so,  it  is  like,  both  would  have  fallen  into  the  ditch.  But 
he  did  not.  Bless  the  Lord,  O,  my  soul,  and  all  that  is 
within  me,  bless  his  holy  name,  for  what  he  did  for  me, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  that  man.  And  I  was  quick- 
ened and  strengthened  very  much  by  Mr.  Tennent's  excel- 
lent sermons,  and  was  desirous  all  should  hear  them,  as  I 
had  done,  and  urged  many  to  it. 

"  Few  of  the  people  in  Bridgewater  heard  Mr.  White- 
field,  but  the  most  did  Mr.  Tennent  ;  for  as  this  man  of 
God,  who  had  skill  and  will  to  win  souls,  was  upon  his  re- 
turn home,  and  passing  through  a  neighbouring  town  in  March, 
,1741,  some  of  the  Rev.  ministers  in  Bridgewater,  with  my- 
self, went  to  see  him,  in  order  to  inviie  him  to  visit  Bridge- 
water.  Accordingly  he  came,  and  preached  three  sermons 
in  the  Rev.  Mr.  Perkins'  meetinghouse  in  the  western  pre- 
cinct ;  two  in  the  day  and  one  in  the  evening.  And  though 
the  warning  was  short,  the  people  in  general  not  knowing  it 
till  that  morning,  and  the  season  very  difficult,  by  reason  of 
the  snow  ;  yet  there  was  a  large  and  crowded  assembly. 
They  came  from  all  parts  of  the  town,  and  many,  I  believe, 
went  away  blessing  God  for  the  opportunity  ;  though  some 
mocked.  It  appears  that  some  close  hypocrites  were  detect- 
ed, some  secure  awakened,  and  many  of  our  young  people 
convinced  of  the  sin  of  spending  away  days  and  nights  in 
singing  and  dancing,  and  other  youthful  sins,  which  they 
,were  much  addicted  to  before,  and  greatly  delighted  in. 
I  "  After  this,  religion  was  more  talked  of  in  our  town  ; 
particularly  the  great  doctrines  of  our  holy  religion,   were 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  129 

often  the  subject  of  conversation  ;  not  for  strife  and  conten- 
tion, but  information  and  edification. 

"  The  people  now,  through  the  town,  were  very  inquisi- 
tive to  know  how  things  were;  having  heard  of  the  revival 
of  rehgion  in  some  places.  They  appeared  of  a  very  teacha- 
ble disposition  ;  they  were  swift  to  hear  the  word  ;  an  un- 
.  common  thirst  after  it  appeared  in  them.  Our  lectures, 
which  were  almost  every  week  in  one  part  of  the  town  or 
another,  were  more  generally  attended  than  before,  and  with 
much  greater  seriousness  and  solemnity  ;  which  encouraged 
us,  the  ministers  in  the  town,  to  set  up  evening  lectures,  to 
be  attended  in  ail  parts  of  the  town  ;  which,  excepting  one, 
are  upheld  to  this  time  ;  besides  all  our  lectures  in  private 
houses,  which  have  not  been  a  few,  and  occasional  lectures 
from  strangers,  who  come  to  visit  us. 

"  Though  but  few,  I  believe,  were  as  yet  savingly  con- 
verted and  brought  home  to  Christ,  yet  the  concern  on  the 
minds  of  most  continued  and  increased  through  the  succeed- 
ing summer.  The  most  were  uncommonly  thoughtful  about 
the  salvation  of  their  precious  souls.  But,  as  I  remember, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  fall,  1741,  convictions  seemed  at  a 
stay,  if  not  declining  and  wearing  off  from  some. 

"  But  upon  this,  two  young  men  of  Bridgewater,  who  had 
been  for  a  time  in  Connecticut,  (one  had  passed  through  his 
academical  learning  and  was  keeping  school  there  ;  the  other 
was  then  a  member  of  Yale  College,)  and  had  seen  the  great 
things  God  was  doing  for  his  people  there,  and  in  a  judg- 
ment of  charity  had  felt  and  experienced  much  of  the  power 
of  divine  grace  on  their  own  souls,  returned  to  Bridgewater 
to  visit  their  friends.  And  O  !  the  concern  they  appeared 
to  have,  (and  we  have  no  reason  to  think  but  it  was  real,) 
for  their  town's-folk,  especially  fellow  youth,  is  not  easily  to 
be  expressed ;  which  they  manifested  in  all  suitable  and 
proper  ways. 

"  They  told  our  young  people  that  on  such  a  day,  if  they 
were  willing,  they  would  meet  with  them  and  sing  and  pray, 
and  give  them  a  relation  of  the  great  things  God  was  doing 
in  Connecticut,  and  what  he  had  done  for  them  since  they 
saw  them  last ;  to  which  they  readily  consented.  When  the 
day  came,  young  and  old  went  ;  and  I  believe  I  should  have 
gone,  had  I  not  been  providentially  absent.  Accordingly, 
they  did  pray  and  sing  with  them,  and  gave  them   a  friendly 


130  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Christian  exhortation.  And  the  Lord  was  with  them,  I  doubt 
not.  Some  were  awakened,  — and  those  under  concern, 
had  their  concern  increased  by  means  thereof.  And  seeing 
such  effects  following,  they  went  on  in  this  way  for  a  while  ; 
if  not  at  the  advice,  yet  at  the  connivance,  of  some  of  the 
ministers  in  th-e  town.  And  whether  their  practice  or  our 
connivance  was  justifiable,  as  things  were  then  circumstan- 
ced, I  shall  not  take  upon  me  now  to  say.  But  this  I  think  I 
am  obliged  to  say  ;  that  if  I  believe  the  work  going  on  so  re- 
markably to  be  divine,  as  I  most  firmly  do,  they  were  great- 
ly serviceable  in  promoting  it  in  my  dear  charge.  Here  I 
would  observe,  that  these  were  the  only  exhorters  we  have 
had.  I  think  we  have  had  no  appearances  of  them  since, 
r  "  After  this,  that  grand  and  important  question  was  in  the 
mouths  of  most  of  my  people,  especially  young  people. 
What  must  we  do  to  be  saved  ?  Salvation  seemed  now  to 
be  the  main  concern  of  their  souls,  and  the  main  business  of 
their  lives.  Their  secular  affairs  were  at  this  time,  in  ap- 
pearance, made  a  by-business.  Meetings  on  account  of  re- 
ligion were  sought  after,  longed  for,  frequently  attended,  ex- 
ceedingly thronged.  And  at  almost  every  meeting  about 
this  time,  which  were  very  frequent,  it  evidently  appeared 
God  was  with  us  in  the  convincing  and  converting  and  com- 
forting influences  of  his  Spirit.  Some  were  awakened,  many 
crying  out  under  a  sense  of  their  sin  and  danger  ;  some  hope- 
fully converted,  and  some  transported  and  over-borne  with  a 
sense  of  the  love  of  God.  I  make  not  the  least  doubt,  but 
there  was  joy  in  heaven  among  the  angels,  as  well  as  among 
the  saints  on  earth,  in  seeing  and  hearing  of  the  glorious  dis- 
plays of  the  infinite  power  and  sovereign  free  grace  of  God 
at  our  religious  meetings.  But  this  blessed  shower  did  not 
long  continue.  It  was  not  long  before  God,  for  our  sin  in 
not  improving,  and  our  ingratitude  under,  these  showers  of  di- 
vine and  heavenly  grace,  did  depart  from  us  as  to  the  con- 
vincing and  converting  influences  of  his  Spirit  ;  and  many  of 
those  that  were  under  good  impressions,  and  had  not  receiv- 
ed comfort  in  Christ,  which  many  had,  gradually  lost  them, 
and  began  to  be  somewhat  careless  and  secure  again.  Now 
and  then,  it  is  true,  I  had  the  joy  of  seeing  and  hearing  one 
convinced  and  converted,  and  it  has  been  to  this  time  ;  but 
it  is  rare,  like  gleanings  after  the  vintage. 

"  But  in  the  judgment  of  charity,  through  the  infinite  com- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  131 

passions  of  God,  the  number  is  not  small  that  have  been  sav- 
ingly wrought  upon  among  us  in  this  great  day  of  grace,  and 
hat  are  become  real  lively  Christians.      We  have  had  added/ 
to  the  church  between  seventy  and  eighty  ;  beside  a  consid- 
erable number  that  have  owned  the  covenant  and  been  bap- 
tized,  that  have  not  seen  their  way  clear    to  come  to  the  or- 
dmance  of  the  Holy  Supper  ;  the  most  of  which  are  able  to 
give  to  every  one  that  asks  them,  with  meekness  and  fear 
all  the  satisfaction  that  can  rationally  be  desired,  or  expect- 
ed, that  they  are  real  Christians.      They  can  give  a  clear 
distmct  account  of  a  preparatory  law- work,  in  aJl  the  parts  of 
It  ;  of  their  discovery  of  Christ,  in  his  ability  and  willineness 
to  save  them  in  particular,  and  every  way  suited  to  their  per- 
ishing circumstances,  to  make  them  completely  and  eternally 
happy  ;  of  their  closing  in  with  him  as  offered  in  the  gospel  • 
ol  the  change  of  heart  ;  and  so  consequently  of  principles' 
desires,  inclinations    and  affections  that  perceptibly  followed 
thereupon.     And  their  lives  and  conversations,  as   far  as  I 
can  observe  myself,  and  learn    from  the  unprejudiced,  are 
correspondmg  and  agreeing  with  their  experiences. 

And  now  these,  God  is,  through  his  abundant  goodness, 
frequently  vis.ting  and  refreshing  by  the  gracious  influences 
of  his  Ploly  Spirit.     For  although  God  has  almost  departed 
irom  us,as  to  the  convincing  and  converting   influences  of 
his    Spirit,  yet  he   has  not,  as  to  the  quickening,    sanctifying 
and  comforting  mfluences  thereof.      Blessed  be  his  name  for 
It.      CTod  IS  verily  with  us   in  our  religious  meetings.      It  is 
Irequent  on   lecture   days  and   on   Lord's  days,  while  we  are 
siipplicating  the  divine   Majesty,   singing  the  high  praises  of 
God,  hearing  his  word,  celebrating  the  Holy  Supper,  that  we 
see   some    of  the  above  mentioned  influences.      Sometimes 
many  of  them   have   their  frail  tabernacles  overborne  with  a 
sense  oi  the  great  and  distinguishing  love  of  God  the  Father 
in  contriving    Son  in  purchasing,  and  Spirit  in  making  appli' 
cation  of  redemption  to  their  souls.      Sometimes  they  have 
such  a  sense  of  the  perfections  of  God,  his  holiness,  justice 
mercy     faithfulness,  &c.,  as  greatly  weakens  and  overcomes 
the  body       They  have  often  such  sweet  tastes  of  redeeming 
iove,  and   such  blessed   discoveries  of  the  glories  of  God 
beauties  of  Christ,   holiness  and  happiness  of  heaven,  as  af' 
tects  the  body  so  greatly,  that  spectators  have  been  ready  to 
conclude  that  it  would  have  dissolved  the  natural  tie  and 


132  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

union  between  the  soul  and  body,  and  that  their  souls  would 
have  actually  dismissed  and  left  their  bodies,  and  been  con- 
veyed by  kind  guardian  angels  in  a  chariot  of  love  to  the  God 
and  region  of  love.  And  to  see  the  effects  these  discover- 
ies have  on  thern  ;  how  humble,  holy,  heavenly,  loving,  and 
weaned  from  the  world  they  are  for  a  considerable  time  afier, 
is  abundantly  refreshing  and  satisfying,  and  confirms  further 
that  their  discoveries  are  true  and  genuine.  Thus  they  are 
frequently  visited  and  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  so  that  they 
are  growing  Christians,  in  grace  and  knowledge.  In  grace, 
every  true  visit  evidently  transforms  them  more  and  more 
into  the  divine  image  and  likeness.  In  knowledge,  it  is 
wonderful  to  see  how  their  knowledge  is  increased,  as  to 
God,  Christ,  the  doctrines  of  grace  ;  and  as  to  themselves, 
their  own  hearts,  the  pride,  envy,  hypocrisy,  deceit,  and  in- 
gratitude of  them.  They  see  and  know  so  much  of  their  own 
vileness,  that  every  one  looks  on  himself  as  the  most  unworthy, 
and  greatest  miracle  of  mercy,  and  most  beholden  and  in- 
debted to  the  free  grace  of  God.  They  are  laboring  after 
progressive  holiness,  to  be  perfect  as  their  Heavenly  Father 
is  perfect.  God  grant  their  path  may  continue  to  be  as  the 
shining  light,  that  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

"  Now  of  this  number,  many  of  them  were,  before  this 
day  of  God's  searching  our  Jerusalem  with  candles,  as  exact 
and  strict  in  the  performance  of  the  externals  of  religion,  as 
far  as  could  be  observed  by  man,  as  any  among  us,  and  had 
gained  the  charity  of  their  neighbours  ;  but  now  see  they  built 
upon  the  sandy  foundation  of  their  own  righteousness,  and 
so  had  perished  eternally,  notwithstanding  their  blazing  pro- 
fessions and  the  good  opinion  of  others,  had  not  God  in  mer- 
cy opened  their  eyes  to  see  the  way  of  salvation  by  Christ, 
and  enabled  them  to  embrace  it. 

"  As  to  Antinomianism  and  enthusiastical  phrensies,  there 
are  little  or  no  appearances  among  us.  Indeed,  there  is  that 
among  us  that  an  Arminian  would  account  Antinomianism, 
and  one  that  never  felt  the  power  of  divine  grace  on  his  own 
heart,  would  account  enthusiasm.  But  this  does  not  make  it 
so.  As  far  as  I  am  capable  of  judging,  their  principles  and 
practices  are  scriptural.  God  grant  I  may  never  have  the 
melancholy  occasion  to  think  or  say  otherwise.  As  to  tran- 
ces, visions,  &c.,  we  have  none,  and  I  think  have  had  none 
from  the  beginning." 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  133 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Revival  in  New  England.  Lyme,  and  other  places  in  that  part 
of  Connecticut.  —  The  "  Needful  Caution  in  a  Critical  Day." —  Pastors 
itinerating. 

The  west  parish  in  Lyme,  Ct.,  which  lies  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Connecticut  river,  on  the  east  side,  opposite  Saybrook, 
was  the  home  of  the  Rev.  Jonatlian  Parsons,  who  was  one 
of  the  most  efficient  promoters  of  the  revival.  His  account 
of  the  revival  in  his  own  parish,  and  of  his  labors  in  the  vicin- 
ity, dated  April  14,  1744,*  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  doc- 
uments of  the  time  ;  especially  when  read  in  connexion  with 
his  sermon,  delivered  February  4,  1742,  and  entitled  "  a 
Needful  Caution  in  a  Critical  Day."  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, too,  that  Windham  and  New  London  counties,  where 
there  were  greater  disorders  than  in  any  other  part  of  New 
England,  were  near  his  residence,  and  the  scene  of  some  of 
his  labors. 

In  less  than  six  months  after  taking  his  first  degree  at  Yale, 
College,  Mr.  Parsons  was  invited  by  this  church  "  to  preaclj 
as  a  probationer  for  settlement."  He  arrived,  February  29, 
1730,  and,  in  May  following,  the  people  invited  him  to  be-' 
come  their  pastor.  Late  in  the  summer,  they  renewed  their 
call.  He,  however,  was  doubting  about  the  validity  of  Pres- 
byterial  ordination.  At  length,  having  become  convinced, 
"  that  the  Scriptures  make  no  difference  between  bishop  and 
presbyter;  that  Christ  alone  is  king  of  his  church,  and  has 
given  laws  to  it,  and  authority  to  execute  them ;  and  that  no 
man  has  a  right,  by  fines  or  civil  force,  to  bind  any  man  to 
worship  God  in  this  or  that  particular  way,"  he  consented  to 
be  ordained  on  the  17th  of  March,  1731.  He  then,  in 
presence  of  the  council  and  the  brethren,  expressly  renoun- 
ced the  Saybrook  platform  of  church  government,  and  took 
for  his  rule  "  the  general  platform  of  the  Gospel ;"  on  which 
the  church  unanimously  voted  him  to  be  their  pastor,  and  the 
council  proceeded   to  ordain   him.      The  population  of  his 

*Chrs.  Hist.  2:  118. 
12 


134  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

parish  was  then   "  seven  hundred  and  sixty  eight  souls,  or 
thereabouts.  " 

"  The  summer  following  my  ordination,  there  was  a  great 
effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  people.  There  appear- 
ed to  be  an  uncommon  attention  to  the  preaching  of  the 
word,  and  a  disposition  to  hearken  to  advice  ;  and  a  remark- 
able concern  about  salvation.  It  was  a  general  inquiry 
among  the  middle  aged  and  youth,  What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved .''  Great  numbers  came  to  my  study,  some  almost 
every  day  for  several  months  together,  under  manifest  con- 
cern about  their  souls.  I  seldom  went  into  a  house  among 
my  neighbours,  but  they  had  some  free  discourse  about  reli- 
gion, or  were  searching  after  the  meaning  of  some  texts  of 
Scripture.  I  urged  them  very  much  to  works,  and  gave  it  as 
my  opinion  (perhaps  too  hastily)  that  such  awakened  souls 
ought  to  attend  upon  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  in  less  than 
ten  months  fifty- two  persons  were  added  to  the  church. 
There  were  several  whole  families  baptized.  Many  of  the 
young  people  were  greatly  reformed.  They  turned  their  meet- 
ings for  vain  mirth  into  meetings  for  prayer,  conference,  and 
reading  books  of  piety.  There  was  a  number  of  them  kept 
a  religious  society  about  two  years  ;  and  they  not  only  be- 
haved soberly,  but  took  pains  to  dissuade  others  from  levity 
and  frothy  conversation.  But,  although  there  was  such  a 
fair  prospect  of  a  considerable  harvest  of  souls,  1  have  no 
special  reasons  to  make  me  think  that  many  were  savingly 
converted  to  God  in  that  season  of  concern.  Many,  indeed, 
made  an  open  profession  of  religion,  but  there  were  very  few 
did  it  under  a  notion  that  saving  grace  is  necessary  in  order 
to  a  lawful  attendance  upon  the  Lord's  Supper.  Nor  have 
we,  in  our  admissions  to  communion,  ever  acted  upon  that 
principle,  but  the  contrary.  Hence  it  came  to  pass  that  we 
found  no  use  for  relations,  as  they  are  called,  but  laid  them 
by  from  the  beginning  of  my  ministry  ;  though  they  had  been 
of  constant  use  in  my  predecessor's  day." 

Li  about  three  years  from  his  ordination,  he  "saw  cause  to 
renounce  Arminian  principles,  and  to  turn  quite  about  in  some 
of  the  most  important  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion." 
He  now  felt  obliged  to  tell  his  people  that  he  could  not  reckon 
conversions  by  the  number  of  those  that  had  joined  the  church  ; 
that  he  feared  few  had  really  been  converted  during  his  minis- 
try ;  that  external   profession   and  devotion,  doctrinal  knowl- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  135 

edge  and  negative  blatnelessness,  were  not  sufficient  evidence 
of  regeneration  ;  and  that  all,  being  spiritually  dead  by  nature, 
must  have  a  principle  of  spiritual  life  implanted,  must  have 
sensible  communion  with  Christ,  and  live  a  life  of  faith,  or 
they  could  not  enter  heaven.  This  his  people  called  "  cen- 
soriousness."  They  seem  to  have  done  little  but  quarrel 
with  his  doctrines  for  some  time,  till,  as  he  says,  "  I  was  aw- 
fully deserted  of  God,  and  got  into  a  very  dull,  legal  frame 
myself;  and  then  some  were  better  pleased." 

This  continued  till  the  summer  of  1740,  when  revivals, 
independently  of  each  other,  were  beginning  to  appear  in  va- 
rious parts  of  New  England.  Then,  he  informs  us,  "  It 
pleased  God  to  strengthen  and  enlarge  my  desires  after  the 
increase  of  Christ's  kingdom,  and  to  stir  me  up  to  more  ar- 
dent endeavours  after  the  eternal  welfare  of  immortal  souls. — 
The  news  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  rising  up  with  great  zeal  for 
holiness  and  souls,  had  a  great  influence  upon  my  mind." 
He  received  an  account  of  Whitefield's  labors  at  Boston, 
from  Dr.  Colman,  and  went  himself  to  hear  him  at  New 
Haven,  and  some  other  places.  "  This  "  he  says,  "  gave 
me  a  different  turn  of  thought  about  him  and  his  preaching, 
and  satisfied  me  more  fully  that  there  were  many  misrepre- 
sentations of  him  and  his  views  ;  and  I  believe,  served  as  a 
means  to  take  off  the  prejudices  that  some  among  us  had 
conceived  against  the  effects  of  his  ministry."  It  seems, 
therefore,  that  there  were  prejudices  against  him  even  then, 
in  that  region  of  Arminianism  and  ecclesiastical  authority  ; 
probably  nourished  by  the  correspondence,  which  is  known 
to  have  been  carried  on,  with  the  "  Old  Side  "  men  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  In  March,  1741,  he  visited  Hart- 
ford, to  learn  on  the  spot  what  he  ought  to  believe  concern- 
ing the  "  surprising  operations  "  there,  concerning  which  the 
country  was  full  of  reports.  He  returned,  believing  it  to  be 
a  work  of  God.*  On  his  return,  he  received  letters  from 
Dr.  Colman,  giving  an  account  of  the  labors  of  Tennent,  and 
their  happy  influence.  All  along,  as  he  gathered  information, 
he  im[)arted  it  to  one  and  another  as  he  had  opportunity  ; 
and  by  this  and  other  means,  his  people  "  were  more  gener- 
ally roused  up  to  bethink  themselves,  and  converse  about  re- 

*  It  does  not  appear  that  any  account  of  these  "  surprising  operations" 
was  ever  published.  Church  records  e.^lant  at  Hartford  make  no  mention 
of  them. 


136  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Hgion."  At  last,  March  29,  he  preached  from  Isaiah  60  : 
8.  "  Who  are  these  that  fly  as  a  cloud,  and  as  the  doves  , 
to  their  windows  ?"  His  object  was,  to  rectify  mistakes, 
and  give  a  correct  history  of  the  work  of  God  that  was  be- 
gun in  the  land.  This  sermon,  especially  its  application, 
had  a  greater  visible  effect  upon  his  audience,  than  he  had 
ever  before  witnessed.  "  Indeed,  there  were  no  outcries  ; 
but  a  deep  and  general  concern  upon  the  minds  of  the  as- 
sembly discovered  itself  at  that  time  in  plentiful  weeping, 
sighs  and  sobs.  Many  told  me,  that  they  never  had  such  an 
awakened  sense  of  the  danger  of  putting  off  the  grand  con- 
cern of  their  souls  to  a  future  season  before,  as  God  gave 
them  under  that  sermon.  They  were  surprised  at  their  own 
past  carelessness,  and  astonished  that  God  had  borne  with 
them  so  long."  Early  in  April,  Tennent  arrived,  on  his 
way  home  from  Boston.  He  preached  in  the  evening,  seem- 
ed very  dull,  spoke  with  no  freedom,  and  made  only  a  feeble 
impression  ;  yet  one  of  the  communicants  was  convinced  of 
sin,  and  in  a  few  days  apparently  converted.  The  next 
morning  he  preached  again,  "  to  a  very  attentive  and  deeply 
affected  auditory."  Parsons  afterwards  found  the  effects  of 
this  sermon  to  have  been  much  more  extensive  than  he  sus- 
pected at  the  time.  Tennent  went  over  to  Saybrook,  and 
many  from  Lyme  followed,  to  hear  him  again.  "  There  he 
1  preached  a  rational,  searching  sermon,  suited  to  unconverted 
I  sinners  and  drowsy  saints."  But  little  effect  was  manifest 
!  during  the  delivery  ;  but  some  were  very  much  enraged  with 
the  preacher  afterwards.  One  man  especially  could  not  bear 
the  sermon,  it  was  so  "  censorious."  He  talked  against  it 
incessantly,  and  could  not  drive  it  from  his  mind,  till  finally 
"  he  was  made  to  see  that  he  was  the  very  man  to  whose 
case  it  was  suited,  above  any  sermon  that  ever  he  had  heard." 
"  After  this,  I  observed  that  our  assemblies  were  greater 
and  more  attentive  at  times  of  public  worship  than  before. 
Sabbaths  alone  would  not  suffice  for  hearing  sermons,  but 
greater  numbers  still  urged  for  frequent  lectures.  I  was  well 
pleased  to  observe  such  a  flocking  to  the  windows,  and  a 
hearing  ear  become  general ;  and  therefore  I  readily  consent- 
ed, upon  the  request  of  the  people,  to  preach  as  often  as  I 
could,  besides  the  stated  exercises  of  the  Sabbath.  Once 
every  week  I  carried  on  a  public  lecture,  besides  several 
private  ones  in  various  parts  of  the  parish.      And  I  could  not 


THE   GREAT   AWAKENING.  137 

but  observe  about  this  time,  that  an  evening  lecture  I  had  set 
up  the  winter  before  in  a  private  house,  for  the  sake  of  a 
young  man  that  was  a  cripple,  though  at  first  exceeding  thin 
(but  seven  persons,  as  I  remember,  besides  the  family)  was 
now  greatly  increased,  and  in  about  a  month  grew  up  to  sev- 
eral hundreds,  so  that  I  was  obliged  to  turn  it  into  a  public 
evening  lecture. 

"  Now  it  pleased  God  to  encourage  my  heart,  give  me  un- 
usual freedom,  and  such  a  firm  state  of  bodily  health,  that  I 
could  go  through  three  times  the  service  1  had  been  able  to 
endure  at  other  times  ;  so  that  I  was  able  to  study  and  write 
three  sermons  a  week,  and  preach  several  others  of  my  old 
notes  (for  I  seldom  in  all  the  time  preached  without  writing). 
Sometime  in  this  month  Mr.  Griswold  invited  me  to  preach 
a  lecture  for  him,  and  I  consented.  While  I  was  preaching  ] 
from  Psalms  119:  59,  60,  I  observed  many  of  the  assembly 
in  tears,  and  heard  many  crying  out  in  very  great  bitterness  of  \ 
soul,  as  it  seemed  then  by  the  sound  of  voices.  When  sermon ' 
was  over,  I  could  better  take  notice  of  the  cause  ;  and  the 
language  was  to  this  purpose,  viz.,  Alas!  I'm  undone; 
I  'm  undone  !  O,  my  sins  !  How  they  prey  upon  my  vi- 
tals !  What  will  become  of  me  .''  How  shall  I  escape  the 
damnation  of  hell,  who  have  spent  away  a  golden  opportu- 
nity under  gospel  light,  in  vanity  .''  And  much  more  of  the 
like  import.  It  is  true,  outcries  were  new  and  surprising  at 
that  time  ;  but,  knowing  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  I  was  sat- 
isfied that  they  were  but  what  might  be  reasonably  account- 
ed for,  if  sinners  were  under  a  true  sense  of  their  sins,  and 
the  wrath  of  a  sin-hating  God.  And  therefore  I  did  not  use 
any  endeavours  to  restrain  them  at  that  time  ;  but  the  greater 
number  cried  out  of  themselves  and  their  vileness,  the  more 
I  rejoiced  in  hope  of  the  good  issue.  As  I  was  satisfied  that 
it  was  the  truth  they  had  been  hearing,  so,  by  their  com- 
plaints, it  appeared  to  be  the  force  of  truth  that  made  them 
cry  out,  and  threw  many  of  them  into  hysteric  fits.  And, 
if  I  mistake  not,  every  one  that  were  so  violently  seized  that 
night,  have  since  given  good  evidence  of  their  conversion  ; 
but  that,  their  reverend  pastor  can  give  the  best  account  of. 

"  The  visible   success  of  my  ministry  in  that  and  some 
other  lectures  abroad,  (though  I  rejoiced  in  the  happy  pros- 
pect of  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  our  divine  Lord,) 
was  far  from  being  a  means  to  damp  my  hopes  or  slacken  my 
12* 


13S  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

endeavours  at  home.  INIy  heart  burned  with  love  to  and 
pity  for  the  people  of  my  peculiar  charge.  I  had  constant 
supplies  of  argument  flowing  into  my  mind,  and  zeal  to  urge 
a  speedy  answer. 

"  By  the  latter  end  of  April,  our  young  people  were  gen- 
erally sick  of  that  vain  mirth  and  those  foolish  amusements 
that  had  been  their  delight,  and  were  formed   into  several  re- 
ligious  societies  for  prayer  and  reading  books  of  piety  under 
my  direction.     Many  of  them  were  frequently   in  my  study 
for  advice  ;  the  bent  of  their  souls  was  evidently  towards  the 
things  of  another  world  ;  whenever  they  fell  into  companies, 
the  great    salvation   was  the  subject  of  their    conversation. 
They  were  so  generally   displeased  with  themselves  for  past 
carelessness,  and    spending  time  in  revels    and  frolics,   that 
several,  at  the  desire  of  others,  came  to  me,  and  desired  me 
to  preach  them  a  lecture  upon  the  14th  of  May  (the  day  of 
our  election  in  this  Colony),  which  they  had,  for  many  years, 
accustomed  themselves  to  spend  in  feasting,  music,  dancing, 
gaming,  and   the  like.     I  complied  with    the    request,    and 
preached   to  a  great   assembly,  from  Matthew  24  :  37,  38, 
39,     Upon  which   I  observed,  that  Jesus  Christ  would  cer- 
tainly come  to  judge  the  world  ;  and  that,  when  he  did  come, 
he  would  find  it  overwhelmed  in  carnal  security  ;  and  from 
these  considerations  I  applied  myself  to  those  that  had  been 
secure  and  unwatchful,  both  among  Christians  and  unconvert- 
ed sinners,  in   a  manner   which  I  thought  proper  to  awaken 
and  convince.      Under  this  sermon,  many  had  their  counte- 
nances changed  ;  their  thoughts  seemed  to  trouble  them,  so 
that  the  joints  of  their  loins   were  loosed,  and  their  knees 
smote  one  against  another.     Great  numbers  cried  out  aloud 
in  the  anguish  of  their  souls.     Several  stout  men  fell  as  though 
a  cannon  had  been  discharged,   and  a  ball  had  made  its  way 
through  their  hearts.      Some  young  women  were  thrown  into 
hysteric  fits.      The  sight  and  noise  of  lamentations  seemed 
a  little  resemblance  of  what  we  may  imagine  will  be  when  the 
great  Judge  pronounces  the  tremendous   sentence  of  'Go, 
ye  cursed,  into   everlasting  fire.'     Tiiere  were  so  many  in 
distress,  that  I  could  not   get  a  particular  knowledge  of  the 
special  reasons  at  that  tirjie,  only  as  I  heard    them   crying, 
'  Woe  is  me  !   What  must  I  do  .'' '     And  such  sort  of  short 
sentences  with  bitter  accents. 

"  Now  those  that  could  not  restrain  themselves,  were  gen- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING^.  139 

erally  carried  out  of  the  meetinghouse,  and  a  second  sermon 
was  preached  by  Mr.  Jewett  to  others  that  were  able  to  at- 
tend ;  after  which  the  assembly  was  dismissed,  and  my  house 
soon  filled  with  wounded  souls  ;  and  I  took  pains  to  satisfy 
myself  and  others,  by  inquiring  into  the  reasons  of  the  trem- 
bling, crying,  fainting,  and  other  signs  of  fear  that  were  so 
manifest  in  the  assembly  ;  and  they  declared  in  their  own 
words,  all  to  this  purpose,  viz.,  that  a  deep  sense  of  past 
sensualities  and  careless  neglects  of  the  concerns  of  their 
souls  ;  their  slighting  frequent  and  solemn  warnings,  and  with- 
standing the  calls  of  the  gospel,  together  with  a  deep  sense  of 
their  liableness,  every  moment,  to  be  arrested  and  cast  into 
the  prison  of  hell,  where  those  sinners  lay  that  refused  to 
hearken  to  the  warnings  given  by  Noah  the  preacher  of  right- 
eousness, was  truly  the  spring  of  all  these  various  signs  of 
distress.  Some  run  back  upon  the  sins  of  riper  years  (for 
there  were  several  persons  upwards  of  forty,  and  some  of 
more  than  fifty  years  old,  that  discovered  great  concern  by 
their  pale  countenances  and  tears,  and  trembling  too).  Some 
cried  out  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  others  of  their  un- 
belief. Some  were  crying,  '  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sin- 
ner,' and  others  entreated  Christians  to  pray  for  them.  Thus 
they  continued  at  my  house  for  several  hours  ;  and  after  I 
had  taken  what  pains  with  them  I  thought  necessary  for  that 
evening,  and  prayed  with  them,  they  were  advised  to  repair 
to  their  own  places  of  abode  ;  and  accordingly,  all  that  were 
able,  went  home. 

"  Now  I  thought  thp  people  in  great  danger,  and  especial- 
ly those  that  were  most  deeply  wounded.  I  knew,  in  all 
probability,  that  hell  was  in  an  uproar  ;  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness saw  his  kingdom  shaking,  and  he  was  in  great  danger  of 
losing  many  of  his  obedient  subjects  ;  many  threatened  re- 
bellion, and  were  in  danger  of  being  accused  of  treason 
against  his  crown  ;  and  therefore,  if  possible,  he  would  allure 
them  back  to  former  fidelity,  persuade  them  to  settle  down 
upon  the  foundation  of  their  own  works,  or  drive  them  to  ut- 
ter despair  of  mercy.  And  therefore  I  dare  not  sit  in  my 
study  the  next  day,  (though  that  Ipudly  called  for  me  to  be 
there,)  but  spent  my  time  abroac|  among  distressed  souls, 
and  others  that  fell  in  my  way  that'  were  more  lightly  touch- 
ed. Nor  were  private  Christians  contented  in  their  fields  or 
shops  at  home,  when  the  fields  were  so  white  for  the  har- 


140  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

vest ;  but  some  of  them  also,  in  their  places,  were  helpers,  in 
the  work  that  seemed  necessary  to  be  done.  The  following 
evening  a  religious  meeting  was  attended  in  a  private  house. 
I  went  to  it,  though  T  could  not  pretend  to  preach  a  sermon. 
I  offered  a  few  words  of  the  miseries  of  the  unconverted, 
the  price  that  was  now  put  into  their  hands,  and  the  great 
danger  of  not  improving  it  ;  but  was  obliged  in  a  few  min- 
utes to  desist,  because  the  house  was  filled  with  outcries  and 
bitter  lamentation.  The  complaint  was  much  the  same  with 
what  it  had  been  the  day  before. 

"  I  continued  to  preach  and  exhort  publicly,  and  from 
house  to  house,  about  six  times  a  week  through  this  month  at 
home,  besides  attending  upon  distressed  souls  upon  certain 
appointed  days  in  my  study.  And  though  I  spake  to  them 
with  unusual  moderation,  in  my  study,  (as  well  as  in  sermons 
about  this  time,)  that  I  might  have  greater  advantage  to  in- 
struct their  minds,  yet  I  was  commonly  obliged  to  make  sev- 
eral stops  of  considerable  length,  and  intreat  them,  if  possi- 
ble, to  restrain  the  flood  of  affection,  that  so  they  might  at- 
tend to  further  truths  which  were  to  be  offered,  and  others 
might  not  be  disaffected.  Some  would  after  a  while  recov- 
er themselves,  and  others,  I  am  satisfied,  could  not.  I  have 
thought  since,  whether  I  did  not  do  wrong  in  endeavouring  to 
restrain  them.  The  pains  they  took  with  themselves  to  keep 
from  outbreakings,  was  a  greater  hindrance  to  their  hearing 
than  their  outcries  were." 

"  I  do  not  remember  that  I  preached  a  sermon  through 
the  month,  without  some  manifest  tokens  of  the  presence  of 
God  in  our  assemblies.  Many  were  awakened,  and  convic- 
tions were  deep.  People  flocked  to  my  study  daily,  and  in 
great  numbers,  deeply  wounded,  and  the  errand  was,  to  lay 
open  the  state  of  their  souls,  and  receive  direction.  Some- 
times T  had  thirty  in  a  day,  and  sometimes  many  more,  all 
upon  the  grand  affair  of  their  souls. 

"  Many,  with  the  greatest  freedom,  confessed  that  though-^ 
they  had  a  name  to  live,  they  were  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins  ;  and  this  not  only  in  private,  but  to  numbers  at  once. 
They  did  not  think  it  matter  of  offense,  if  their  neighbours 
believed  them  when  they  said  it.  They  spake  sensibly  of  it, 
as  <ve  might  expect  a  condemned  malefactor  would  do  if  he 
was  going  to  the  place  of  execution.  They  would  solemnly 
declare  that  they  never  knew  what  real  union  to  Christ  was  ; 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  141 

that  they  were  strangers  to  sensible  communion  with  the  Fa- 
ther and  his  Son  Jesus,  and  to  the  temper  of  the  gospel,  and 
had  rested  easy  with  merely  external  communion,  or  the  form 
of  godliness.  Their  distressed  countenances,  and  free  and 
frequent  confessions  that  they  were  yet  in  the  bonds  of  ini- 
quity, together  with  their  warnings  to  others,  never  to  rest 
until  they  knew  Christ  was  formed  in  them,  proved  awaken- 
ing to  many  professors,  and  put  them  upon  the  search  and 
inquiry  into  the  reasons  of  their  hope  ;  and  some  were  sha- 
ken off  from  their  old  foundation,  supposing  they  had  built 
upon  the  sand,  whilst  others  had  the  more  peace  in  believing. 

"  The  like  effects,  sometimes  more  and  sometimes  less 
observable,  continued  through  the  summer.  There  were 
also  many  instances  (and  the  number  was  daily  increasing) 
of  persons  filled  with  great  joy  and  comfort.  It  was  com- 
mon to  hear  of  and  to  see  them  overcome,  and  fainting  under 
high  discoveries  of  God  reconciled  in  Christ.  Some  also  I 
have  seen  overcome  with  concern  for  others  ;  and  sometimes  ) 
their  concern  terminated  on  particular  persons,  that  they  fear- 
ed were  in  a  state  of  sin. 

*'  The  conversation  of  the  people  in  general,  was  reli-  \ 
gious.  If  at  any  time  neighbours  met,  the  great  affairs  of  sal- 
vation were  the  subject  of  discourse.  In  the  streets,  in  the 
fields,  and  in  private  houses,  the  discourse  was  instructive  ; 
some  inquiring  the  way  to  life,  others  in  their  proper  sphere 
endeavouring  to  help  the  distressed  by  their  humble  advice 
and  counsel.  Some,  that  knew  the  terrors  of  the  Lord, 
would  persuade  the  careless,  and  modestly  recommend  the 
grace  of  God  to  their  acceptance,  from  their  own  experi- 
ence of  its  sweetness.  And  as  there  were  frequent  inqui- 
ries about  the  things  of  infinite  concern,  so  there  was  a  great 
increase  of  knowledge  in  religious  matters.  According  to 
the  best  observation  I  could  make,  I  believe  the  people  ad- 
vanced more  in  their  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures,  and  a 
true  doctrinal  understanding  of  the  operations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  conviction,  regeneration  and  sanctification,  in  six 
months'  time,  than  they  had  done  in  the  whole  of  my  minis- 
try before,  which  was  nine  years.  Nor  was  this  all,  but  many 
evidently  looked  upon  sin  with  abhorrence.  They  appear- 
ed to  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  their  minds.  Bitterness, 
and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamor,  and  evil-speaking  seem- 
ed to  be  put  away  from  them,  with  all  mahce.     Their  fruit 


142  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

was  unto  holiness.  Love  to  God  and  man,  with  their  genuine 
fruits,  were  increasing.  Rough  and  haughty  minds  became 
peaceful,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be  entreated.  Lowliness,  long- 
suffering,  forbearance,  a  courteous  deportment,  beneficence, 
and  tender-heartedness,  meekness  and  moderation,  to  all  ap- 
pearance, seemed  to  increase  abundantly.  And  to  all  these, 
we  observed  a  delight  in  Christian  fellowship,  in  breaking  of 
bread,  and  in  prayer.  I  think  it  cannot  be  expected  that 
men,  in  their  general  course,  should  give  clearer  evidences  of  a 
Christian  temper  formed  in  them,  than  many  did  in  that  sea- 
son. Their  faith  worked  by  love,  and  discovered  itself  in 
acts  of  piety  towards  God,  charity  and  righteousness  towards 
men,  and  sobriety  towards  themselves. 

"  We  had  some  special  seasons  of  divine  influence  in 
that  time,  both  upon  converted  and  unconverted,  which  1 
must  not  now  relate  ;  it  would  make  the  account  too  long  ; 
but  I  cannot  pass  over  our  pentecost,  on  the  11th  day  of  the 
following  October.  I  preached  from  Psalm  2  :  12,  upon 
the  nature  and  necessity  of  faith  in  Christ  ;  and  then  admin- 
istered the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  near  three 
hundred  souls,  as  I  judge.  It  was  a  day  never  to  be  forgot- 
ten ;  but,  I  think,  ought  to  be  remembered  with  holy  won- 
der and  gratitude  by  all  that  were  present.  The  house  of 
the  Lord  was  full  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord.  It  pierces  me 
to  the  heart,  that  any  have  ever  attempted  to  throw  darkness 
over  the  rich  grace  of  God  that  was  so  clearly  discovered  ; 
or  to  misrepresent  the  gracious  effects  of  those  discoveries 
that  were  made  to  many.  Though  we  had  enjoyed  much  of 
the  gracious  presence  of  God  in  our  assemblies  before,  yet, 
I  think  I  never  saw  so  much  at  any  time  as  on  that  day. 
Especially  when  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered,  God 
poured  out  his  Spirit  in  a  wonderful  measure.  I  spake  a  few 
things  to  the  communicants,  as  I  remember,  concerning  the 
mediatorial  excellencies  and  love  of  Jesus  Christ,  when  I 
came  down  to  the  communion  table  and  began  to  break  the 
bread  ;  and  then  invited  them  all  to  come  to  him  as  well  as 
to  his  table,  and  assured  them,  in  his  name,  that  they  should 
be  welcome  to  the  rich  treasures  of  his  grace,  which  were 
open  and  free  to  all  that  would  come.  I  had  no  sooner  of- 
fered some  things  of  this  nature  in  a  few  short  hints,  but  sev- 
eral of  the  church  cried  out  in  most  bitter  accents,  of  their 
piercing  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  by  their  unbelief,  and  showed 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  143 

the  signs  of  distress  in  their  countenances  ;  whilst  many 
scores  were  dissolving  in  tears.  A  considerable  number 
trembled  in  the  anguish  of  their  souls,  as  though  they  had 
heard  the  thunderings  and  seen  the  lightnings  from  the  thick 
cloud  ;  whilst  many  more  began  to  put  on  immortality,  al- 
most, in  the  look  of  their  faces.  I  could  not  but  think  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  was  come  to  his  table,  and  feasting  their  souls 
with  his  love,  discovering  his  mediatorial  glories  to  them  ; 
letting  them  taste  of  his  preciousness,  opening  to  them  the 
mysterious  wonders  of  his  grace,  and  the  like.  But  will  you 
ask  why  I  entertained  such  thoughts  as  these  ?  I  am  willing 
you  should  know  the  reason.  Their  looks  were  all  love,  ad- 
oration, wonder,  delight,  admiration,  humility.  In  short,  it 
looked  to  me  a  resemblance  of  Heaven  ;  where  the  shining 
hosts  of  angels  and  glorified  saints  are  for  ever  before  the 
throne  of  God,  in  the  lowest  prostration,  crying  '  Holy,  holy, 
holy  Lord  God  ;  thou  art  worthy  to  receive  glory,  and  honor, 
and  power,  and  blessing,  and  thanksgiving.'  But  some  of 
those  in  distress,  about  the  end  of  the  distribution  of  the 
bread,  appeared  to  be  in  a  calm,  and  before  the  cup  was 
poured,  they  seemed  to  have  a  delightful  sense  of  something 
upon  their  minds.  Their  looks  were  changed  from  anguish 
to  pleasure  and  admiration,  love  and  humility,  and  the  like. 

"  I  was  too  much  taken  up  with  these  things,  and  some  dis- 
coveries which  I  trust  were  made  to  me,  with  the  effects 
of  them,  to  make  any  critical  remarks  upon  any  indecen- 
cies ;  though  some  (ew^  not  so  well  pleased  with  the  ap- 
pearances, have  said,  that  there  was  one  or  two  instances  of 
these  extraordinaries  that  were  not  decent  the  whole  of  the 
time  of  administration.  One  thing  complained  of  as  an  in- 
decency was,  that  two  men  embraced  each  other  in  their 
arms  before  the  blessing  was  given.  The  fact,  I  suppose, 
is  true  ;  but  others  say  it  was  after  the  blessing  was  given. 
Nor  do  I  think  it  so  very  indecent,  as  some  would  represent 
it.  Another  thing  complained  of  is,  persons  going  about  the 
meetinghouse  in  the  sacrament  time.  This,  I  suppose,  was 
true,  that  one  single  person,  who  was  a  subject  of  these  influ- 
ences, did  go  out  of  one  pew  into  another  upon  some  occa- 
sion just  before  the  blessing  was  given,  and  some  two  or 
three  others  that,  it  seems,  did  not  so  well  affect  the  prospect, 
went  round  the  body  of  seals  on  one  side  of  the  house,  and 
then  out  of  doors.    Blessed  be  God,  that  there  was  nothing 


144  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

further  than  I  have  related,  which  has  been  excepted  against, 
as  I  remember.  The  general  reverence  and  decency  of  be- 
haviour in  the  subjects  of  this  great  grace  was  indeed  admirable. 

"  Many  old  Christians  told  me,  they  had  never  seen  so 
much  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord  and  the  riches  of  his  grace, 
nor  felt  so  much  of  the  power  of  the  gospel  before  ;  they 
had  never  seen  so  clearly  the  infinite  ocean  of  divine  love  ; 
never  been  so  sensible  of  the  love  of  God  to  them,  nor  had 
such  strong  love  so  clearly  in  exercise  to  him.  Sev- 
eral of  them  had  the  full  assurance  of  faith,  who  had  been 
seeking  after  it  for  many  years,  but  were  denied  till  that  time. 
New  converts  were  greatly  refreshed  and  quickened.  I 
cannot  doubt  whether  they  had  the  presence  of  the  Comfor- 
ter. Christ  then  appeared  more  lovely  than  the  princes  of 
this  world.  They  sat  under  his  shadow  with  great  delight, 
and  his  fruit  was  sweet  to  their  taste.  They  were  feasted 
in  his  banqueting-house,  and  his  banner  over  them  was  love. 
They  could  not  support  themselves,  many  of  them,  under  the 
weight  of  it,  they  were  so  deeply  affected  with  it.  Had  not 
Christ  put  underneath  his  everlasting  arms  for  their  support, 
I  know  not  but  many  would  have  expired  under  the  weight 
of  divine  benefits.  And  besides  all  this,  I  think  we  have  a 
good  evidence  of  the  saving  conversion  of  several  of  the 
communicants  at  the  same  time.  The  several  discoveries 
they  gave  an  account  of,  together  with  the  effects  of  these 
discoveries,  produced  in  a  law-work  and  a  true  closure  with 
Jesus  Christ,  gave  me  considerable  hope  of  it  ;  and  a  long 
time  since,  to  observe  their  pious  life  and  holy  conversation, 
confirms  my  first  hope  that  it  was  a  reality,  and  no  deception. 

"  Since  that  time,  we  have  had  many  refreshing  seasons, 
both  in  public  worship  and  more  private  assemblies  ;  and 
many  hopeful  conversions.  Nor  are  public  and  private 
meetings  the  only  places  of  these  influences  and  eflects  ;  the 
closet,  the  field,  the  shop,  and  the  kitchen,  are  all  witnesses 
to  them.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  Christians  to  be 
overcome  in  their  private  retirements,  as  they  have  told  me  of 
the  happy  seasons.  In  meditation  at  some  times,  and  con- 
versation at  others,  divine  truth  has  been  set  in  a  clear  light, 
and  they  have  been  made  to  know  the  truth  of  the  gospel  of 
the  blessed  God.  But  the  work  has  not  appeared,  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  so  powerful  since,  as  it  did  the  first  eight  or  nine 
months.     Indeed,  God  gives   witness  to  the  truth  of  these 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  145 

things,    at  times,  more   or  less,   unto  this    day  ;  and  will,    I 
trust,  until  the  end." 

Many,  who  can  understand  how  sinners  should  be  over- 
come by  a  sense  of  danger,  will  be  staggered  at  these  ac- 
counts of  intense,  overpowering  emotion  in  Christians,  in 
view  of  purely  spiritual  objects, —  of  God,  and  the  glorious 
truths  that  relate  to  him.  But  the  fact  that  they  did  thus 
feel,  and  were  thus  overcome  by  their  feelings,  is  undeniable. 
And  the  testimony  is  abundant,  that  such  beholdings  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  did  exert  a  transforming  influence  upon 
them,  making  them  more  humble,  more  kind,  more  patient, 
more  ready  for  every  good  work,  more  entirely  amiable  in 
tlie  eyes  of  all  who  love  true  goodness.  It  would  scarce  be 
possible  to  produce  such  effects  on  one  of  the  congregations 
of  the  present  day.  The  pulpit  has  labored  so  long,  and  so 
powerfully,  to  give  all  our  religious  thoughts  a  practical  di- 
rection, to  engage  us  in  plans  for  accomplishing  appreciable 
good  here  on  earth,  and  we  have  been  so  thoroughly  taught 
to  expend  our  sensibilities  in  action  for  the  good  of  others, 
that  we  should  need  a  long  and  laborious  training,  to  make  us 
capable  of  such  engrossing  contemplation  of  objects  purely 
spiritual.  Whether  we  are,  on  the  whole,  the  worse  or  the 
better  Christians  for  the  change,  is  a  question  not  to  be  an- 
swered hastily.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  are  better 
than  they  for  certain  uses  ;  and  perhaps  we  should  be  better 
still,  if  we  had  occasional  seasons  of  contemplation  and  feel- 
ing, more  like  theirs. 

The  converts  were  chiefly  from  among  the  youth  ;  but 
three  or  four  were  upwards  of  fifty,  two  near  seventy,  and  one  / 
ninety-three  years  of  age.  At  the  date  of  this  account,  the 
pastor  says  ;  "  I  have  reason  to  hope,  about  one  hundred 
and  eighty  souls  belonging  to  this  congregation,  have  met 
with  a  saving  change,  since  the  beginning  of  the  late  glorious 
effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  among  us  ;  besides  the  frequent 
and  more  than  common  quickenings  and  refreshings  of  others, 
that  were  hopefully  in  Christ  years  before."  In  nine  months, 
ending  February  4,  1742,  one  hundred  and  fifty  members 
were  added  to  the  church. 

Still,  Parsons  did  not  pretend  that  all  was  pure  in  Lyme. 
"  There  have  been  many  things  amiss.  I  thought  so  from 
the  beginning,  and  I  think  so  still."  Besides  the  opposition 
of  enemies,    "  some  I   thought  a  little  intemperate   in   their 

13 


146  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

,  zeal  at  times,  and  for   some   things  that  it  was  hardly  worth 
!  while  to  contend  about.     I  have  seen  reason  to  alter  my  own 
I  conduct  in  several  things  ;  particularly,  to   treat   those   that 
opposed   the  work  with  greater  candor  and  mildness,  and  to 
address   myself  to  all   conditions  of  men  with  more   tender- 
ness, than  I  did  several  times." 

There  were  a  few,  who,  for  a  time,  inclined  to  favor  Da- 
venport's lay  exhorters,  his  separate  meetings,  and  his  doc- 
trine of  impressions  concerning  future  events ;  but  these 
things  never  became  prevalent.  Two  or  three,  who  were 
not  of  the  new  converts,  expressed  their  joy  "  several  times  " 
at  religious  meetings  by  laughing  ;  and  others,  "  under  high 
spiritual  discoveries,"  spoke  out  aloud  during  public  worship, 
supposing  that  it  would  be  as  inoffensive  as  the  crying  out  of 
the  convicted  ;  but  such  instances  were  few,  and  scarce  any 
approved  them.  It  had  been  reported,  that  "  trances,  vis- 
ions, extraordinary  missions  and  immediate  revelations  " 
were  common  among  the  new  converts  ;  but  though  he  was 
extensively  acquainted  with  them,  and  had  conversed  with 
thousands  of  them,  he  had  "not  met  with  a  score  who  pre- 
tend to  any  such  thing,"  and  he  doubted  whether  half  that 
number  could  be  found  in  Connecticut.  And  yet  his  ac- 
quaintance included  the  region  where  they  were  said  to  be 
most  abundant. 

The  preservation  of  the  converts  and  others  at  Lyme  from 
the  faults  with  which  they  were  charged,  was  probably  owing, 
in  no  small  degree,  to  the  "Needful  Caution  in  a  Critical 
Day."  This  sermon  was  preached  February  4,  1742, 
about  ten  months  from  the  commencement  of  the  revival. 
The  text  was  Titus  2:8.  "  That  he  that  is  of  the  contrary 
part  may  be  ashamed,  having  no  evil  thing  to  say  of  you." 
Its  object  was,  to  guard  his  people  against  errors  in  doctrine 
and  practice,  into  which  they  were  in  danger  of  falling,  and 
especially  to  urge  the  duty  of  abstaining  from  things  which, 
though  innocent  in  themselves,  might  lead  to  evil,  or  occa- 
sion needless  reproach.  After  forcibly  showing  "  the  con- 
trariety there  is  in  men  to  the  designs  of  divine  grace,"  he 
urges  that  this  "should  be  a  strong  persuasive  with  the  chil- 
dren of  God  to  improve  in  holiness,  so  that  their  opponents 
might  have  no  evil  thing  to  say  of  them."  He  grants  that 
"the  evil  things  which  the  happy  subjects  of  the  special 
grace  of  God  are  guilty  of,  are  many  times  the  unhH])py  oc- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  147 

casion  of  the  rising  contrariety  and  opposition  in  others." 
The  occasion.,  but  not  the  cause  ;  for  "  my  imperfections  can 
no  more  be  the  cause  of  another  man's  sins,  than  my  graces, 
if  I  have  any,  can  be  the  cause  of  his  goodness."  But  the 
strength  of  the  sermon  was  in  the  "application." 

"  1.  Let  me  caution  an-d  admonish  all  Christless  sinners, 
whether  professed  opposers  of  the  work  of  divine  grace  or 
not,  that  they  do  not  stumble  and  cavil  at  the  work  of  God's 
rich  and  (ree  grace  manifest  at  this  day,  from  those  errors 
and  irregularities  visible  in  the  happy  subjects  of  it.  You 
may  see  by  what  has  been  offered,  that  I  am  not  about  to 
justify  or  excuse  the  sinful  defects  and  foolish  disorders  of 
Christians.  It  is  a  matter  of  shame  and  deep  abasement, 
(and  that  which  hath  called  us  together  this  day,)  that  those 
who  were  born  heirs  of  death  and  immortal  anguish,  but  are 
now  graciously  washed  from  their  uncleanness  in  the  blood  of 
the  blessed  Jesus,  and  through  his  name  have  the  free  remis- 
sion of  all  their  sins,  should  be  so  unwatchful,  so  carnal  in 
their  behaviour,  and  such  miserable  patterns  of  humility  and 
resignation  to  God,  as  many  are.  But  then,  dear  souls,  it  is' 
absurd  in  you  to  cavil  against  the  gracious  operations  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  because  the  persons  that  declare  the  work  of 
divine  grace  are  guilty  of  some  errors  and  defects.  The 
saving,  sanctifying  influences  of  the  blessed  Spirit  do  not 
make  men  infallible.  There  is  abundance  of  remaining  blind- 
ness and  corruption  in  the  most  holy  men  ;  yea,  perhaps 
more  sin  and  corruption  than  grace  and  holiness  in  the  most 
refined  Christians.  It  is  surely  a  great  argument  of  your 
being  blinded  through  lust  or  prejudice,  that  you  dwell  so 
much  upon  the  follies  of  your  neighbours,  and  would  thereby 
hinder  tiie  success  of  the  gospel.  It  is  very  much  to  be 
feared,  at  least,  that  you  are  strangers  to  the  sanctifying  influ- 
ences of  the  Holy  Spirit,  when  you  can  so  easily  pass  over 
the  table  of  rich  dainties  which  God  spreads  for  his  own 
children,  which  while  they  feast  upon,  their  souls  are  drawn 
out  in  rivers  of  pleasure  and  love  ;  and,  like  the  crow,  light 
upon  and  greedily  pick  every  bit  of  filthy  carrion  you  can 
meet  with.  By  this,  I  do  not  invite  you  to  approve  of  dis- 
orders ;  but  would  humbly  beseech  and  solemnly  warn  you 
not  to  be  found  fighting  against  God.  Whilst  you  stand 
amazed  at  the  rings  of  the  wheels,  as  things  too  high  and 
dreadful  for  you  ;  whilst  you  know  not  what  to  make  of  the 


148  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

effusions  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  are  blundering  at  every 
thing  amiss,  when  God  is  working  a  work  of  his^  astonishing 
grace  before  your  eyes,  which  you  will  not  believe  ;  beware 
lest  that  come  upon  you  which  is  spoken  of  by  the  prophet, 
— 'Behold,  ye  despisers,  and  wonder,  and  perish.'  Dear 
immortal  souls,  I  beseech  and  persuade  you,  by  the  mercies 
of  God,  and  the  astonishing  love  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  you  would  not  sacrifice  the  operations  of  the  blessed 
Spirit  to  your  own  prejudice,  arising  from  our  imperfections. 

"  2.  Let  me  warn  and  caution  the  children  of  God,  now 
met  together,  to  humble  themselves  before  the  Lord  ;  that 
they  carefully  watch  against  every  thing  in  principle  and  prac- 
tice that  has  a  tendency  to  bring  any  blemishes  upon  the 
work  of  divine  grace,  or  to  open  the  mouths  of  gainsayers, 
and  be  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  their  giving  credit  to 
the  truth  of  it.  Dear  Christians,  let  me  be  able  to  bear  re- 
cord, that,  to  your  power,  yea,  and  beyond  your  power,  you 
I  are  willing  to  shut  the  mouths  of  the  contrary  part,  and  make 
them  ashamed,  having  no  evil  thing  to  say  of  you.  It  is  the 
/  reasonable  expectation  of  God,  that  you  give  none  occasion 
I  of  offence  to  them  that  are  without.  It  is  the  reasonable 
expectation  of  angels,  who  rejoice  at  the  progress  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom  and  the  conversion  of  sinners,  that  you 
shun,  to  the  uttermost,  every  folly  that  tends  to  embitter  the 
spirits  of  men.  Know  you  not  that  the  present  circumstan- 
ces of  the  church  of  Christ,  and  the  threatening  aspect  over 
it,  do  eminently  call  upon  me,  and  all  others  that  long  for  the 
prosperity  of  Jerusalem,  to  use  great  plainness  of  speech 
and  holy  vigilance  .''  Especially  in  some  of  our  towns,  where 
God  has  shed  abroad  his  love  in  the  hearts  of  many  ;  and 
so  even  with  us,  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  evidently  depart- 
ing, and  human  passion  and  unallowed  measures  seem  to  be 
taking  its  place."  Then  he  exhorts  them,  "as  a  means  to 
recover  the  poor  church  from  its  wounds,  and  to  prevent  its 
being  stabbed  to  death,"  to  avoid  several  errors  which  he 
^  I  specifies.  "  1.  Give  no  countenance  to  any  mens'  setting 
I  themselves  up  as  the  public  teachers  of  the  church."  Broth- 
j  erly  exhortation,  with  becoming  modesty.,  he  approves,  and 
urges  as  a  duty  ;  but  not  that  laymen  should  set  themselves 
up  as  teacliers,  and  appoint  meetings  over  which  they  are  to 
preside,  and  in  which  they  are  to  teach,  like  ministers.  This, 
he  contends,  is  unscriptural  ;  and  no  fancied  ability  or  desire 


THE  GllKAT  AVVAKKiNMNG.  149 

to  do  good,  or  hope  or  supposed  experience  of  usefulness, 
can  justify  them  in  attempting  to  do  good  by  breaking  the 
command  of  God.  "2.  Give  no  countenance  to  despisers 
of  human  learning  in  pubhc  teachers  of  the  church."  Tliis 
some  were  prone  to  do,  expecting  such  immediate  revela- 
tions to  teachers,  as  would  supersede  its  necessity.  *  "  3.. 
Give  no  countenance  to  that  absurd  notion,  of  depending  ^ 
upon  the  immediate  impulses  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  every 
word  you  say,  or  every  action  you  do.  As  absurd  as  such 
an  opinion  is,  I  had  almost  yielded  to  it  myself,  under  a  mis- 
taken thought  of  depending  upon  the  Lord  thereby.  Blessed 
be  God,  who  preserved  me  from  it.  I  now  look  upon  this 
[as]  extravagant  presumption,  instead  of  having  dependence 
upon  the  Lord.  1  might  as  well,  on  the  other  extreme, 
command  the  stones  to  become  bread  for  the  relief  of  my 
hunger,  as  on  this,  to  cast  myself  down  from  the  pinnacle  of 
the  temple,  and  to  abuse  the  gracious  promise  of  God,  under 
the  imagination  of  being  borne  up  on  the  wings  of  angels. — 

4.  Give  no  countenance  to  spiritual  pride  and  self-confidence. 

5.  Give  no  countenance   to    a    spirit  and   practice  of  rash 
judging.      It  is  a   granted  truth,  that   every  man  and  woman,    "* 
as  they  come  into  this  world,  are  concluded   under  sin,  and 

lie  o()en  to  the  j)ains  of  eternal  damnation.  Until,  therefore, 
they  give  me  Scripture  evidence  of  their  deliverance  from 
the  guilt  of  sin  and  the  curse  of  the  law,  I  should  be  guilty 
of  rash  judging  to  conclude  that  they  were  in  a  state  of  favor 
with  God;  for  no  evidence  of  such  a  change  is  sufficient, 
but  Scripture  evidence.  And  here  suffer  me  to  tell  you, 
that  greater  occasion  is  doubtless  given  to  '  the  contrary 
part '  to  say  some  evil  thing  of  you,  and  of  the  gracious  in- 
fluences of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  rashly  concluding  persons 
are  converted,  without  good  evidence  of  it,  than  by  saying 
you  have  no  good  grounds  to  think  those  persons  converted, 
who  tender  only  a  public  profession  of  religion  and  a  moral 
character  as  the  evidence  of  it.  I  would  in  no  wise,  by  this, 
encourage  any  rash  conclusion  against  such  men  ;  for  cer- 
tainly the  saving  influences  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  lead  to  a 
good  life  and  a  profession  of  Christ  before  men.     But  mere- 

*  The  chief  foundation  of  lliis  error,  Parsons  does  not  notice.  It  was 
the  practice  of  training  unconverted  men  fir  the  ministry,  as  if  human 
learning  was  a  sutficient  qualification.  This  error  naturally  prodncd  its 
opposite,  entire  contempt  for  human  learning  as  a  ministerial  qualification. 

13* 


150  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ly  those  are  not  the  Scripture  marks  of  conversion  ;  nor  do 
they  amount  to  that  evidence  of  another's  conversion  that  I 
must  wait  for,  before  I  may  conclude  him  so  without  being 
guilty  of  rashness.  And,  indeed,  rashly  to  conclude  that 
persons  are  converted  is  of  much  more  dangerous  conse- 
quence, than  rashness  on  the  other  side, —  though  both  are  to 
be  avoided  and  abhorred  ;"  for,  he  argues,  the  false  hopes  of 
self-deceivers  are  strengthened  by  such  rash  decisions  in 
their  favor  ;  and  then,  when  such  fall  away,  opposers  are 
encouraged  to  reproach  Christianity  and  despise  the  work  of 
God's  Spirit.  He  had  found  no  source  of  reproaches  more 
abundant  than  this.  "  6.  Be  warned  against  justifying,  ex- 
cusing, or  endeavouring  to  extenuate  your  known  errors  or 
irregularities,  when  any  person  puts  you  in  mind  of  them. 
I  am  persuaded  there  is  too  great  a  readiness  in  some  of 
God's  dear  children  to  justify,  or  at  least  to  excuse,  their 
own  imperfections,  and  to  suspect  some  ill  design  in  those 
that  deal  plainly  with  them  for  the  same.  Yea,  and  it  is  too 
common  with  them,  to  spend  that  time  in  vain  jangling,  and 
endeavouring  to  excuse  the  very  things  they  should  condemn 
in  themselves,  which  might  be  much  better  spent  in  their 
closets,  begging  for  renewed  pardons,  and  for  grace  to  guard 
against  every  evil  thing  by  which  the  contrary  part  is  waiting 
to  get  some  advantage." 

Such  were  the  teachings  of  one  of  the  men  most  censured 
for  blind  enthusiasm  and  headlong  zeal.  This  sermon  shows 
that  nearly  all  the  faults  charged  upon  the  promoters  and  sub- 
jects of  the  revival  really  existed,  and  threatened  to  prevail  ; 
though  the  vigilance,  the  early  and  prompt  interference,  of 
the  pastors  confined  them  within  much  narrower  limits  than  is 
usually  supposed.  It  shows,  too,  that  Parsons  himself,  in 
the  warmth  of  his  first  successful  labors,  strayed  to  the  very 
brink  of  the  precipice,  and  led  his  people  towards  the  dan- 
ger from  which  he  soon  had  grace  to  recall  them.  But  this 
picture  is  not  complete  without  a  view  of  the  other  parish  in 
Lyme,  and  of  Parsons  itinerating. 

LYME,  EAST  PARISH. 

The  Rev.  George  Griswold's  account  of  the  revival  in 
the  East  Parish  of  Lyme  is  dated  April  -3,  1744.  This 
parish   was  considerably  smaller  than   the  other,   containing 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENLNG.  151 

about  sixty  or  seventy  families.  Mr.  Griswold's  description 
of  the  previous  decline  of  religion,  of  the  influence  of  re- 
ports concerning  Whitefield  and  others,  of  the  increasing 
thoughtfulness  in  the  winter  of  1741,  till  the  arrival  of  Ten- 
nent,  agree  substantially  with  that  given  by  Mr.  Parsons. 
After  Tennent's  sermons,  April  1,  1741,  "The  concern 
spread  and  increased,  and  was  visible  in  the  face  of  the  con- 
gregation on  the  Lord's  day,  and  at  other  times  of  public 
worship  ;  and  some  were  distressed  that  they  were  so  stupid 
as  not  to  be  concerned."  Evening  meetings  were  set  up. 
At  one  of  them,  April  14,  Mr.  Parsons  preached,  as  men- 
tioned in  his  own  account.  "  The  word  fell  with  great 
power  on  sundry,  who  were  deeply  wounded  under  a  sense 
of  sin  and  divine  wrath.  Some  had  fits  ;  some  fainted  ;  and 
it  was  observable  that  God  made  use  of  the  concern  in  some 
to  create  a  concern  in  others  ;  and  some,  that  did  not  appear 
much  concerned  when  the  public  exercises  ended,  yet,  seeing 
others  distressed,  fell  into  a  deep  distress  under  a  conviction 
of  sin  and  the  sense  of  divine  wrath  due  to  them.  Some 
hours  were  spent  in  praying  with  and  counselling  the  distress- 
ed. After  this,  cryings  out  at  the  preaching  of  the  word 
were  frequent.  These  things,  being  the  first  Hiat  had  been 
so  remarkable  in  any  town  or  parish  near  us,  were  much 
talked  of;  and  many  persons  came  to  see  and  hear,"  some 
of  whom  believed  it  to  be  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
some  knew  not  what  to  think.  Mr.  Griswold  "  was  per- 
suaded that,  as  to  the  substance  of  it,  it  was  the  work  of 
God,  though  accompanied  with  some  unusual  circumstances  ;" 
because  he  found  the  same  conviction  of  sin  and  other  mental  ■ 
exercises  that  usually  accompany  a  work  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  "  Soon  after  this,  there  was  a  great  concern  at  a  pri-  ^ — 
vate  house,  among  about  ten  persons,  where  there  had  been 
no  preaching,  praying,  or  any  thing  of  that  nature."  Mr. 
Griswold,  passing  that  way,  was  called  in  to  pray  with  and 
counsel  them  ;  "  and  some  that  came  in  to  see  them  were 
struck  under  conviction,  and  the  most  of  these  persons  were 
soon  after  hopefully  converted.  Now  outcries,  faintings,  and 
fits  were  often  in  meetings  ;  though  the  greater  part  that  I 
hope  experienced  a  saving  change,  did  not  make  any  out- 
cries ;  nor  did  they  faint  or  have  fits  under  the  divine  influ- 
ences of  the  Holy  Spirit."  By  the  end  of  June,  the  pastor 
hoped  that  about  forty  persons  had  "  experienced  a  saving 


152  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

change."  Some  members  of  the  church  were  among  the 
converts.  "  It  hath  been  frequent  for  persons  to  be  in  great 
distress  for  others,  so  as  to  be  overcome  thereby.  Many 
have  had  such  discoveries  of  the  love  of  God  and  Christ,  as 
to  be  overcome,  and  to  lose  their  bodily  strength  thereby  ; 
which,  I  think,  was  observed  to  begin  towards  the  latter  end 
of  July,  1741  ;  after  which,  sometimes  in  public,  but  more 
especially  in  private  meetings,  this  hath  been  frequent,  not  on- 
ly in  persons  hopefully  converted  since  this  remarkable  reli- 
gious concern,  but  in  those  that  are  supposed  to  have  been 
formerly  converted." 

From  August,  1741,  convictions  mostly  ceased  till  winter, 
when  the  work  revived  again,  but  less  powerfully,  and  there 
were  occasional  conversions  till  the  spring  of  1743.  As  the 
fruits  of  the  revival,  one  hundred  v;hite  persons  and  thirteen 
Indians  became  members  of  the  church.  All  but  two  or 
three  of  these,  who  merely  owned  the  covenant  and  came  to 
the  Lord's  table,  gave  satisfactory  evidence  of  conversion  ; 
as  did  a  kw  others,  who  had  not  yet  united  with  the  church. 
The  Indians  were  of  the  Niantic  tribe,  for  whose  conversion 
efforts  had  been  made  for  several  years,  but  without  effect, 
till  Mr.  Davenport  came  among  them  in  August,  1741. 
Twenty  or  more  of  them  were  "hopefully  converted." 
Through  all  this  revival,  Mr.  Griswold  had  "taken  care  to 
caution  persons  against  laying  any  weight  on  crying  out,  faint- 
ing, and  fits,  as  signs  or  marks  of  conversion."  There  had 
been  no  separations  or  divisions. 

PARSONS  ITINERATING. 

Parsons'  account  of  the  revival  in  his  own  parish  contains 
the  following  episode,  which  deserves  to  be  placed  under  a 
distinct  head  :  — 

"  About  this  time,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Lord  of  Norwich, 
Owen  of  Groton,  and  other  ministers  in  the  eastern  parts  of 
this  government,  sent  letters,  inviting  me  to  visit  them,  to  see 
the  work  of  the  Lord,  and  help  them  also  ;  (for  it  was  com- 
mon in  that  day  for  brethren  to  send  for  each  other  to 
preach.)  After  some  struggles  with  myself,  I  consented  to 
go  ;  and  accordingly  set  out  on  the  Sth  of  .Tune,  intending  to 
preach  some  few  sermons  before  I  returned.  The  same  day 
I  preached  for  Mr.  Lovett  of  New  Salem,  at  his  desire,  and 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  153 

there  I  observed  a  solemn  attention  ;  concern  in  the  counte- 
nances of  some,  and  delight  in  others.  I  have  had  some  ac-^ 
quaintance  with  the  people  in  that  place  since  that  time,  an(| 
believe  that  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  persons  savingly! 
converted  in  the  late  season  of  grace.  From  thence  I  went, 
the  same  day  at  evening,  over  to  the  North  Parish  of  New 
London,  and  June  the  9th  preached  two  sermons  for  Mr. 
Jewett  ;  under  which,  but  especially  the  first,  there  was  a 
great  and  general  concern  visible  in  the  faces  of  the  people  : 
weeping,  sighing  and  the  like  among  the  aged  and  the  youth, 
while  many  of  the  children  of  about  ten,  twelve  and  fourteen 
years  old,  cried  aloud,  and  spake  some  such  sentences  as 
these,  viz  :  '  What  must  I  do  ?  I  never  honored  this  great 
king  !  *  Lord  Jesus  help  me  ! '  &c.  From  thence  I  hastened 
over  to  Norwich,  because  Mr.  Lord  expected  me  to  preach 
a  lecture  for  him  that  evening.  And  when  I  came  there, 
there  was  a  great  assembly  gathered,  to  which  I  preached 
from  Psalm  119:  59,  60.  They  gave  very  solemn  atten- 
tion ;  and  there  was  a  concern  apparent,  by  tears  and  sighs, 
in  almost  every  corner  of  the  house.  The  next  day  I 
preached  another  sermon  for  Mr.  Lord,  the  visible  effects  of 
which  were  not  so  great  as  the  first.  I  observed  a  great 
flocking  of  the  people,  not  only  to  hear  the  word,  but  to  their 
pastor  for  advice.  From  thence  I  went  forward  to  Stoning- 
ton,and,on  the  11th  of  June,  preached  two  sermons  for  Mr. 
Eells.  There  seemed  to  be  tokens  for  good  ;  an  attentive 
audience,  and  much  weeping  in  the  assembly  ;  but  I  do  not 
remember  any  outbreakings  in  the  extraordinary  manner  that 
I  had  sometimes  heard.  Yet  Mr.  Eells  informed  me  after- 
wards in  a  letter,  that  there  were  many  instances  of  particular 
persons,  unto  whom  the  ministry  of  that  day  was  blessed.  I 
thought  when  I  was  with  him,  that  he  had  the  blessing  of 
some  excellent  Christians  in  his  parish.  It  was  formerly  a 
j)lace  noted  for  profaneness  and  other  vices,  but  he  said  (and 
so  I  thought)  that  there  was  a  great  reformation  among  them. 
From  Stonington  I  returned  back  by  the  way  of  Groton  ;  and 
on  the  12th  of  June  preached  one  sermon  for  Mr.  Owen,  to 
a  great  assembly  of  people.  It  pleased  God  to  give  me 
greater  freedom  of  thought  and  expression  than  I  had  found 
in  all  my  journey  before.  I  preached  from  Isaiah  61  :  1 ,  and 
the  people,   to    all   appearance,  were  all   ear  and   attention. 

*  I  was  prt'iicliiiiiv  upon  the  kingly  office  of  Christ. 


154  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

There  were  no  outcries,  but  the  countenances  of  many  dis- 
covered sweet  refreshment ;  and  others  discovered  great  dis- 
tress. And  I  had  some  satisfaction  afterwards,  by  accounts 
from  divers  persons,  that  the  spring  of  comforts  and  concern 
was  from  the  Spirit  of  God.  I  could  not  tarry,  indeed,  to 
speak  with  many  after  sermon,  because  1  had  encouraged  Mr. 
Croswell  to  preach  at  evening  for  him.  But  I  had  the  com- 
pany of  a  considerable  number  up  to  Mr.  Croswell's  parish, 
which  is  five  miles  distant  from  Mr  Owen's.  Upon  the  way 
they  told  what  things  were  done,  and  how  Jesus  had  been 
made  known  to  them,  and  their  hearts  burned  within  them, 
while  they  spoke  of  him.  Jesus  seemed  to  be  their  delight, 
and  humility  their  glory.  At  Mr.  Croswell's  I  found  great 
concern  upon  the  minds  of  people.  It  was  apparent,  in  ser- 
mon-time, by  their  weeping,  and  their  looks.  Some  cried 
out,  and,  from  after  conversation,  I  was  satisfied  that  many 
were  very  sensible  of  their  sinful  and  undone  condition,  and 
some  others  were  really  converted.  I  remember  two  women 
came  to  me,  who  had  made  themselves  easy,  for  some  time, 
with  the  Arminian  way  of  conversion  ;  and  had  been  bol- 
stered up  in  it  by  a  certain  gentleman,  whom  they  admired. 
They  told  me  that  they  were  now  convinced  that  such  a 
scheme  of  doctrines,  embraced,  fatally  settled  persons  down 
short  of  Christ ;  and,  by  their  embracing  of  them,  they  had 
gone  calmly  on  in  the  way  that  leads  down  to  death  ;  but  now 
they  had  an  awakened  sense  of  their  sin,  and  of  the  infinite 
hazard  they  were  in  of  perishing  ;  yea,  that  they  must  per- 
ish, unless  God  was  self-moved  to  pity  and  save  them.  From 
thence  I  returned  to  Norwich  on  Saturday,  and  kept  Sab- 
bath at  Mr.  Lord's.  On  June  14th,  being  Lord's  day,  I 
preached  again  to  a  great,  very  attentive  and  deeply  affected 
assembly.  The  concern  of  some,  and  the  delight  of  others, 
was  manifest  in  their  countenances  ;  and,  by  conversing  with 
many  afterwards,  I  was  satisfied  they  were  under  the  influ- 
ences of  God's  Holy  Spirit.  And  so  from  time  to  time, 
upon  opportunities  with  that  people,  I  believe  that  Mr.  Lord 
has  the  blessing  of  many  souls  turned  to  righteousness  among 
them  ;  a  considerable  number  of  old  Christians,  and  many 
newly  born,  that  are  feeding  upon  the  sincere  milk  of  the 
word,  and  growing  up  in  Christ.  .Tune  the  15th,  I  rode  out 
to  Mr.  Throop's,  a  new  society  in  Norwich,  and  preached 
one  sermon  for  him,  to  a  full  assembly.     There  seemed  to  be 


THE  GREAT  AWAKEiNIiNG.  155 

great  listening  to  the  word  ;  great  concern  appeared  in  the 
countenances  of  many  ;  a  great  number  were  in  tears,  and 
several  cried  out  ;  some  fainted  away,  and  one  or  two  raged. 
After  the  sermon  was  over,  1  took  pains  to  find  out  the  spring 
of  that  distress  which  appeared  in  many  instances,  and  I 
think,  they  gave  grounds  to  judge  it  was  from  conviction  of 
sin  ;  except  those  instances  that  were  distressed  with  their 
outrageous  passions. 

"  Now  I  had  accomplished  the  whole  of  my  design  in  this 
journey,  both  in  visiting  and  conversing  with  my  fathers  and 
brethren  in  the  ministry,  and  in  seeing  the  displays  of  rich 
and  sovereign  grace  ;  and  much  exceeded  my  first  design  in 
preaching.  The  next  laid  out  in  my  own  mind  was  to  re- 
turn home  as  fast  as  I  could  ;  but  the  Rev.  Mr.  Adams  of 
New  London  sent  me  a  letter,  desiring  that  I  would  return 
that  way,  and  give  his  people  some  exhortations.  Having 
been  there  before  in  the  time  of  the  concern  among  the  peo- 
ple, I  was  unwilling  to  deny  his  request,  because  I  had  found 
that  there  were  peculiar  difficulties  rising  up,  and  I  feared  my 
refusing  might  rather  increase  them  than  otherwise.  There 
was  a  number  of  new  converts  with  a  flaming  zeal,  and  jeal- 
ous lest  the  laborers  should  not  bear  a  proportion  to  the  har- 
vest ;  and  some  others,  from  what  spring  I  do  not  say, 
(though  some  have  imputed  it  to  the  imprudence  of  these 
new  converts,)  who  opposed  themselves  to  the  work  going  on 
among  them.  Thus  the  kingdom  seemed  to  be  divided 
against  itself; —  and  I  was  the  rather  inclined  to  gratify  the  ven- 
erable Mr.  Adams  on  that  account,  not  knowing  but  that  I 
might  be  instrumental  of  some  good  in  that  respect.  Accord- 
ingly I  went,  and  on  June  16th  preached  two  sermons  in  that 
place,  besides  using  some  private  endeavours  to  make  things 
more  easy,  if  it  should  please  God  to  make  use  of  me  for 
that  end  ;  but  the  success  was  not  according  to  my  wishes. 
I  found  mutual  rising  jealousies,  and,  as  I  thought,  ground- 
less surmisings  in  some  instances,  prevailing  among  them. 
These  difficulties  increased  afterwards  ;  and,  for  want  of  char- 
ity and  mutual  condescension  and  forbearance,  they  have 
produced  an  open  separation.  I  doubt  not  but  that  there  are 
excellent  Christians  on  both  sides  ;  and  there  has  been  a  very 
great  display  of  divine  grace  among  them  ;  but  they  are 
doubtless  to  be  blamed  for  the  manner  of  separating.  What 
grounds  they  may  have,  1  do  not  know,  but  am  afraid  they 
have  gone  off  upon  a  wrong  principle." 


156  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

NEW    LONDON. 

Grisuold,  of  East  Lyme,  also  labored  beyond  the  bounds 
of  his  own  parish.  Here  is  his  account  of  some  of  the  re- 
sults :  — 

"  Upon  the  report  of  the  remarkable  concern  among  us 
April,  1741,  the  Rev.  Mr.  David  Jewett  of  the  North  Par- 
ish in  New  London,  in  beginning  of  May,  came  here  and 
preached  two  sermons  to  the  good  acceptance  of  my  people. 
And  as  a  return  for  his  good  will,  toward  the  latter  end  of 
May,  I  went  and  preached  two  sermons  in  his  parish.  Be- 
fore I  went,  there  was  a  seriousness  on  the  minds  of  many 
there  ;  though  nothing  of  the  visible  appearance  of  a  remark- 
able concern,  like  what  had  been  among  us.  I  observed  that 
almost  all  his  people  came  to  meeting,  though  on  a  week 
day.  And  I  observed  a  great  seriousness  and  attention  to 
the  word  preached,  and  many  tears  shed  at  the  hearing  of  the 
word  ;  though  I  did  not  hear  of  any  saving  eflect  of  it  on 
the  hearts  of  any  persons,  neither  was  there  any  outcry  or 
fainting  ;  though,  as  afterward  I  was  told,  there  were  some 
that  received  those  impressions  and  concern  at  the  hearing 
those  sermons,  that  stuck  by  them  till  they  hopefully  experi- 
enced a  saving  change. 

"  The  summer  and  fall  following,  there  was  a  concern 
among  the  people  ;  and,  as  I  have  been  told,  about  ten  or 
twelve  hopefully  converted. 

/^~"*'  About  the  latter  end  of  July,  Mr.  Davenport  came 
/there,  and  Mr.  Jewett,  as  I  was  told,  refused  to  give  him  an 
'  account  of  his  experiences  of  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  on  his 
heart  ;  whereupon  Mr.  Davenport  publicly  delivered  as  his 
opinion,  or  at  least  his  great  fears,  that  Mr.  Jewett  was  un- 
converted. Upon  this,  there  arose  an  uneasiness  among 
those  of  his  people  that  had,  perhaps,  too  great  an  esteem  of 
Mr.  Davenport  ;  and,  about  the  beginning  of  the  next  winter, 
a  number  of  his  people  seemed  to  be  got  almost  at  the  point 
of  separation  from  him.  Being  invited  by  some  of  my 
brethren  in  the  ministry  to  visit  them  and  preach  to  their  peo- 
ple, about  the  latter  end  of  November,  1  set  out  on  a  small 
journey  to  preach  ;  and  almost  every  day  preached  twice  a 
day.  At  this  time  people  were  exceeding  greedy  to  hear 
the  word,  and  flocked  in  great  crowds  where  ihe  word  was 
preached.  For  near  a  fortnight  I  did  not  see  much  effect  of 
my  preaching  that  was  remarkable  for  this  day.     Indeed, 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  157 

some  cried  out  under  the  sense  of  sin  and  divine  wrath,  and 
some  were  overcome  with  joy  and  the  sense  of  the  love  of 
God  ;  but  the  most  of  them  had  had  these  impressions  on 
them  before  in  hearing  the  word  ;  unless  one  or  two  persons, 
as  I  heard  afterward,  that  God  was  pleased  to  make  use  of 
my   ministry  as  a  means  of  their  saving  change. 

"  As  I  returned  homeward  on  Saturday,  the  thirteenth  day 
after  my  going  from  home,  I  called  to  visit  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Jewett  ;  and  in  discourse  with  him,  I  found  that  he  was  de- 
sirous I  should  tarry  and  preach  to  his  people,  and  he  would 
go  and  preach  for  me.  I  consented  ;  and  we  concluded  he 
should  preach  not  only  to  my  people  on  the  Lord's  day,  but 
also  a  lecture  about  the  middle  of  the  day  on  Monday  ;  and 
that  I  should  preach  for  him  not  only  on  the  Lord's  day,  but 
on  the  Lord's  day  evening  and  Monday  evening  ;  and  on 
Tuesday,  Wednesday,  and  Thursday  at  some  other  parishes, 
where  I  thought  and  partly  knew  I  was  desired  to  preach  ; 
and  on  Friday,  as  I  returned  homeward,  that  I  should  preach 
for  Mr.  Jewett  again  in  the  afternoon  and  in  the  evening.  I 
felt  something  of  reluctancy  to  tarry  another  week  from 
home,  and  in  such  painful  service  as  riding  from  place  to 
place  and  preaching  twice  a  day,  that  is,  once  in  the  day  and 
once  in  the  evening  ;  but  1  thought  there  was  the  hand  of  God 
in  it,  and  it  was  not  a  thing  of  my  own  choosing,  and  com- 
posed myself  to  be  as  quiet  as  I  could.  But  it  seems  God 
had  some  work  for  me,  the  most  unworthy  of  his  servants,  to 
do,  that  I  did  not  know  of. 

"  On  the  Lord's  day,  which  was  about  the  9th  or  10th  day 
of  December,  1741,  (it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  the  parish  the 
people  live  so  scattered  and  remote  that  they  have  but  one 
sermon  in  the  winter  in  a  day,)  there  seemed  to  be  consider- 
able of  concern,  and  the  movings  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
among  the  people  ;  and  about  the  close  of  the  sermon,  there 
was  one  negro  that  had  hopefully  a  saving  discovery  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  received  consolation.  I  preached  a  lecture  in  the 
evening  of  the  same  day  ;  and  there  seemed  a  very  great 
pouring  out  of  the  Spirit  ;  many  were  in  great  distress,  cry- 
ing out  under  a  sense  of  sin  and  the  wrath  of  God  ;  and  sun- 
dry that  were  hopefully  converted  before,  seemed  to  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit,  and  with  earnest  desire  for  the  conversion  of 
others,  and  a  spirit  of  prayer  for  it.  After  sermon  was 
ended,  about  two  or  three  hours  were  spent  with  the  dis- 
14 


158  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

tressed,  in  counselling  of  them,  and  praying  with  and  for 
them.  This  evening  about  three  or  four  persons  received 
consolation,  and  were  hopefully  brought  to  receive  Jesus 
Christ. 

"  On  Monday,  T  preached  again  at  the  meetinghouse  ;  and 
there  seemed  to  be  a  great  pouring  out  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ; 
and  many  in  distress,  and  one  hopefully  had  a  discovery  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  received  consolation.  On  Monday  even- 
ing I  preached  again  in  the  meetinghouse  ;  and  the  distress 
of  the  people  was  so  great,  among  them  that  tarried  in  the 
meetinghouse  the  space  between  the  public  exercises,  that  I 
was  obliged  to  speak  to  the  people,  to  compose  and  still 
them,  or  I  could  not  have  had  opportunity  to  pray  with  or 
preach  to  them.  Though  there  were  outcries  in  the  time  of 
public  exercise,  yet  not  so  much  as  to  interrupt  the  pub- 
/\]\c  worship.,  Within  the  space  of  about  two  or  three  min- 
utes after  the  blessing  was  given,  there  seemed  to  be  a  won- 
derful outpouring  of  the  Spirit  ;  many  souls  in  great  distress  ; 
and  those  that  were  converted  before,  much  concerned  for 
the  good  of  souls  ;  and  about  three  or  four  hours  were  spent 
in  counselling  the  distressed  and  praying  with  them. 

'■'■  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  David  Jewett  this 
evening  returned  home,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  came  into  the 
meetinghouse  in  sermon  time  ;  and  within  a  few  minutes  after 
sermon  was  ended  and  the  blessing  given,  the  Spirit  of  God 
came  down  on  him  in  a  wonderful  manner.      He  seemed  to 
be  full  of  spirit  and  life  from  the  Lord  ;  and  this  evening 
he  spent  some  hours  in  praying  with,  counselling  and  exhort- 
^ing  of  his  people.      And  now  they  that  before  seemed  to  be 
[at  the  point  of  separation  from  him,  had  their  hearts  wonder- 
I  fully  united  to  him  ;  and  ever  since,  he   has  appeared  very 
1  lively  and  fervent  in  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  and  in  his  cause. 
I  This  evening  about  seven  or  eight  had  hopefully  a  true  dis- 
I  covery  of  Jesus  Christ,  were  converted,  and  received  conso- 
lation. 

"  The  number  of  them  that  hopefully  experienced  a  saving 
change  in  Mr.  Jewett's  parish  this  week,  either  at  the  public 
meetings  or  in  the  space  between,  was  supposed  to  be  about 
twenty  persons." 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  159 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Revival  in  New  England.  Plymouth,  Sutton,  Taunton,  Middle- 
borough,  Halifax,  Portsmouth,  Gloucester,  Reading,  Newcastle,  Wester- 
ly, Northampton. 

PLYMOUTH. 

"  The  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  !"  Every  son  and  daughter 
of  a  Puritan,  every  enlightened  friend  of  Christianity  and  of 
the  blessings  that  follow  in  its  train,  will  ask  with  interest  for 
the  history  of  the  revival  here.  It  shall  be  given  in  the 
words  of  the  Rev.  Nathanael  Leonard,  pastor  of  the  First 
Church,  who  wrote  November  23,  1744.* 

"It  pleased  God  to  cast  my  lot  (who  am  the  least  of  all 
saints)  in  the  First  Church  and  town  in  the  country,  above 
twenty  years  ago.  Religion  was  then  under  a  great  decay  ; 
most  people  seemed  to  be  taken  up  principally  about  the 
world  and  the  lusts  of  this  life  ;  though  there  appeared  some 
serious  Christians  among  us  that  had  the  things  of  God  at 
heart,  who  greatly  bewailed  the  growth  of  impiety,  profane- 
ness,  Sabbath  breaking,  gaming,  tavern-haunting,  intemper- 
ance, and  other  evils,  which  threatened  to  bear  down  all  that 
is  good  and  sacred  before  them.  We  were  sensible  of  an  awful 
degeneracy,  and  kept  days  of  fasting  and  prayer,  year  after 
year,  that  God  would  pour  out  his  Spirit  upon  us  ;  especially 
on  the  rising  generation.  At  these  times  we  invited  the  minis- 
ters of  the  county  to  join  with  us,  who  readily  gave  their 
assistance.  The  authority  of  this  town  endeavoured  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  growing  intemperance,  by  clearing  the  taverns  at 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  punishing  loose  and  disor- 
derly persons  that  frequented  them.  But  all  the  methods 
used  one  way  and  the  other,  proved  of  little  effect.  Iniquity 
prevailed,  and  we  were  in  danger  of  losing  the  very  form 
of  godliness. 

"  The  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  coming  into  the  land,  and  the 
news  we  presently  had  of  his  preaching  and   conversation  at 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  H.  page  313. 


160  THE  GREAT  AWAKEMKG. 

Boston  and  elsewhere,  roused  us  a  little,  and  we  sent  to  him 
to  come  and  preach  to  us.  We  expected  him  in  October, 
1740,  but  were  disappointed. 

"  In  March  following,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tennent  came  hither 
and  preached  eight  sermons  to  general  acceptance,  which, 
by  the  blessing  of  God,  greatly  awakened  this  people,  and 
many  have  dated  such  religious  impressions  from  that  time, 
as  we  have  reason  to  believe  issued  in  a  real  conversion  to 
God.  After  him,  several  ministers  of  the  county  and  oth- 
ers visited  us,  and  preached  with  us  ;  and  we  often  spent 
whole  days  in  prayer,  singing  and  preaching,  and  had  fre- 
quently three  exercises  in  them.  I  often  preached  three 
times  on  the  Loid's  day  myself,  and  sometimes  three  or  four 
times  in  the  week  besides  ;  although  before  this,  through  bod- 
ily indisposition  and  heaviness  of  spirit,  1  was  not  able  to 
carry  on  the  usual  stated  exercises,  and  my  people  had  for 
some  years  provided  me  an  assistant. 

"  The  subjects  chiefly  insisted  on  were  these  following, 
viz  :  The  sin  and  apostasy  of  mankind  in  Adam  ;  the  blind- 
ness of  the  natural  man  in  the  things  of  God  ;  the  enmity  of 
the  carnal  mind  ;  the  evil  of  sin  ;  the  desert  of  it,  and  the 
utter  inabihty  of  the  fallen  creature  to  relieve  itself;  the 
sovereignty  of  God  ;  his  righteousness,  holiness,  truth,  power, 
eternity  ;  also  his  grace  and  mercy  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  the  way 
of  redemption  by  Christ  ;  justification,  through  his  imputed 
righteousness,  received  by  faith  ;  this  faith  the  gift  of  God, 
and  a  living  principle,  that  workelh  by  love  ;  legal  and  evan- 
gelical repentance  ;  the  nature  and  necessity  of  regeneration  ; 
and  that  without  holiness  no  man  can  see  God.  All  persons 
were  put  upon  examining  themselves,  warned  against  trusting 
in  their  own  righteousness,  and  resting  in  the  form  of  godli- 
ness, without  the  power,  &c.  These  things,  together  with 
pathetical  invitations  to  sinners,  to  come  and  embrace  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  offered  in  the  Gospel,  made  a  wonderful  im- 
pression on  the  minds  of  all  sorts  of  people  at  the  first.  And 
men,  women  and  children  were  much  awakened,  and  the  out 
•—ward  face  of  things  began  exceedingly  to  alter. 

"  In  February,  1742,  the  Rev.  Nr.  Croswell  came 
hither,  and  continued  in  the  town  about  a  fortnight,  preaching 
sometimes  in  this,  and  sometimes  in  the  other  parish.  At 
this  time,  I  think  I  may  say,  as  the  apostle  does  to  the  Thes- 
salonians  :  '  The  Gospel  came  unto  us,  not  in  word  only, 
but  also  in  power,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  much  assur- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  161 

ance.  And  we  received  the  word,  not  as  the  word  of  man, 
but  as  it  is  in  truth,  the  word  of  God,  which  wrought  effec- 
tually in  them  that  believed.'  Hundreds  of  souls  were  at  one 
time  in  the  meetinghouse,  Saturday,  February  13th,  crying 
out  in  the  utmost  concern,  what  they  should  do  to  be  saved  ! 
and  many  others  rejoicing  in  the  Lord,  in  the  sweet  sense  of 
his  redeeming  love  and  grace  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  they  declar- 
ed. This  day,  and  at  some  other  times,  conversions  were 
so  open  and  public,  that  we  seemed  to  see  souls,  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins,  revive  and  stand  up  monuments  of  divine 
grace.  I  do  not  mean  that  we  had  an  intuition  of  their  hearts, 
and  knew  infallibly  the  state  of  their  souls,  which  is  God's 
prerogative  ;  but  the  appearance  of  conversion  from  one 
state  to  the  other,  and  the  alteration  in  the  frame  and  temper 
of  their  minds,  which  they  discovered  in  words  and  beha- 
viour, was  admirable.  This  day  appeared  to  me  in  the  time 
of  it,  and  hath  done  so  ever  since,  a  day  of  great  grace,  for 
which  my  soul  giveth  thanks  to  God. 

"After  this,  for  some  months  together,  you  should  scarcely; 
see   any   body  at   the  taverns,  unless   they  were  strangers,? 
travellers,  or   some    come    there   upon    necessary   business.. 
The  children  forsook  their  plays  in  the  streets,  and  persons 
of  all  denominations,  except  a  (e\v,  gave  themselves  to  read- 
ing the  word  of  God,  and  other  books  of  devotion,  to  medi-  ' 
tation,  prayer,  conference,  and  other  religious  exercises,  and 
refrained  from  their  customary  vices.      And  many  that  lived 
at  a  distance,  being  acquainted  with  this  town  in  its  former 
state,  coming  hither,  beheld  us  now  with  admiration,  saying. 
Surely  the  fear  of  God  is  in  this  place.  -^ 

"  Furthermore,  as  this  present  life  is  a  state  of  imperfec-' > 
tion,  so   there  were  some  circumstances  that  attended  this 
work,  which,  if  they   had  not   been,  might  have  prevented 
some  prejudice  and  offence  against  it. 

"  A  violent  opposition  presently  arose,  and  prevailed  so 
far,  that  a  number  of  this  congregation  went  out  from  us  into 
a  distinct  society,  and  nine  of  the  brethren  asked  a  dismis- 
sion from  us,  to  embody  into  a  church  by  themselves.  We 
readily  granted  their  request,  and  they  have  lately  had  a  min- 
ister set  over  them.  My  prayer  for  him  and  them  is,  'that 
God  would  pour  out  his  Spirit  abundantly  upon  them,  greatly 
enrich  them  with  heavenly  blessings,  and  fill  them  with  all  the 
fulness  of  God.' 

14* 


162  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  As  for  the  subjects  of  this  work,  it  hath  been  here  as 
in  other  places.  Some,  that  were  a  while  under  awakenings, 
at  length  got  rid  of  them,  and  are  now  returned  as  the  dog 
to  iiis  vomit.  Some,  that  we  thought  at  first  savingly  chang- 
ed, have  since  given  reason  to  fear  that  they  deceived  them- 
selves as  well  as  others.  But  the  far  greater  part  of  them 
that  were  added  to  the  church,  behave  with  such  n)eekness, 
humility,  sobriety,  and  other  Christian  virtues,  that  1  must  say 
of  them,  as  David  did  of  the  godly  of  his  day  :  '  They  are 
Lthe  excellent  of  the  earth,  in  whom  is  my  delight.'  But  I 
would  not  be  understood  to  confine  my  good  opinion  to  those 
only  that  have  passed  under  a  remarkable  change  within 
three  or  four  years  past.  No,  I  am  persuaded  there  are  a 
number  of  truly  godly  persons  among  us,  that  experienced 
the  new  birth  before  these  days,  and  even  before  my  settle- 
ment in  this  town,  for  whom  1  have  an  equal  regard. 

"  As  to  the  present  state  of  religion,  the  town  is  much 
reformed  from  what  it  was  before  these  days.  But  Christians 
are  not  so  lively  as  they  have  been  ;  the  convincing  Spirit 
seems  in  a  great  measure  withdrawn  ;  iniquity  begins  to  grow 
more  bold  of  late  ;  and  I  am  afraid  a  day  of  sore  declension 
is  coming  upon  this  place.  O  that  God  would  again  visit 
this  vine,  which  his  right  hand  hath  planted,  and  hath  hitherto 
preserved  !  O  that  he  would  water  it  every  moment  !  Noth- 
ing but  a  stream  of  grace,  from  that  fountain  where  all  fulness 
dwells,  can  maintain  and  carry  on  a  work  of  reformation 
against  the  devices  of  the  devil,  the  snares  of  the  world,  and 
the  opposition  of  men's  hearts. 

"  I  am  so  confirmed  in  it  that  this  work  is  of  God,  that 
in  my  most  calm  and  sedate  seasons  my  prayer  is,  not  only 
that  God  would  lead  me  and  guide  me  in  his  way,  but  enable 
me  to  endure  all  manner  of  ill  usage  in  the  world,  rather  than 
give  up  this  cause,  which  T  am  fully  persuaded  is  his,  to 
whom  be  glory  and  praise  for  ever  and  ever.      Amen." 

SUTTON. 

It  is  not  clear,  from  what  period  the  awakening  in  Sutton 
should  be  dated  ;  as  indications  of  its  approach  appeared 
very  early, — some  months  before  Whitefield's  arrival  in 
New  England,  —  though  it  was  long  in  assuming  a  decided 
character.  It  seems  to  belong  to  the  Northampton  class  of 
revivals.     The  Rev.  David  Hall's  account  is  dated  May  28, 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  163 

1744.  His  labors  among  this  people  commenced  in  1728. 
Within  about  two  years,  there  was  a  very  observable  refor- 
mation of  morals,  and  the  number  of  communicants  was  more 
than  doubled.  After  this,  there  appeared  to  be  a  gradual 
abatement  of  religious  concern  ;  but  it  revived  again  in  1735. 
At  this  time,  he  says,  "  it  came  into  my  mind,  and  I  trust  it 
was  from  God,  to  visit  the  people  of  my  charge,  and  to  ap- 
ply myself  particularly  to  every  one  that  was  arrived  to  years 
of  understanding  ;  that  I  might  know  the  state  of  the  flock, 
and  make  particular  application  to  the  consciences  of  young 
and  old  among  us.  This  appeared  to  be  attended  with  some 
very  hopeful  symptoms  of  success."  A  society  of  young 
men  was  formed  for  religious  purposes  ;  and  family  meetings 
were  established  in  four  different  parts  of  the  town.  These 
meetings  were  continued  monthly  ;  but  religious  interest  seem- 
ed gradually  to  decline  for  several  years.  At  length,  Mr.  Hall 
writes,  "  God  was  pleased  wonderfully  to  convince  me  of 
this  in  the  latter  end  of  April,  1740,  and  greatly  to  humble 
rae."  This  was  accompanied  by  a  persuasion  that  he  should 
see  religion  reviving,  and  an  ardent  desire  to  save  souls  for, 
whom  Christ  died.  He  now  "longed  for  the  sanctuary," 
and  knew,  better  than  ever  before,  "what  it  was  to  preach 
with  the  spirit,  and  with  the  understanding  also."  There 
was  this  summer  an  increasing  attentiveness  to  the  means  of 
grace,  and  more  solemnity  in  the  worshipping  assemblies.  In 
October,  Mr.  WhiteSeld  preached  in  a  neighbouring  town  on 
his  way  to  Northampton.  A  few  from  Sutton  were  present, 
and  were  brought  under  conviction  ;  but  in  general,  hardness 
of  heart  prevailed,  and  in  the  spring  of  1741,  Mr.  Hall,  in/ 
discouragement,  began  to  speak  of  going  to  preach  in  some( 
town  where  there  was  no  minister.  "^ 

"  But  so  it  was,  that  the  very  next  Sabbath  following,  I 
saw  considerable  tokens  of  the  goings  of  God  in  the  congre- 
gation. Our  assembly  was  generally  swallowed  up  in  tears  ; 
and  from  this  time  I  perceived  a  more  general  concern  upon 
the  countenances  of  the  people.  Sundry  persons  came  to 
me  under  soul-concern  soon  after."  Some  of  these  soon 
gave  evidence  of  conversion,  and  were  added  to  the  church. 
During  the  remainder  of  the  year  there  were  few  instances  of 
conversion  ;  but  the  number  of  the  convicted  increased,  till 
at  its  close  they  amounted  to  at  least  one  hundred.  In  Jan-, 
uary,  1742,  "  there  appeared  hopeful  symptoms  of  a  broken 


164  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

spirit  and  a  bleeding  heart."  This  was  a  good  sign.  When 
the  anxiety  that  attends  conviction  gives  place  directly  to  joy 
in  view  of  the  way  of  salvation  through  Christ,  we  may  hope 
the  conversion  will  prove  real  ;  but  there  will  be  some  cases 
of  self-deception  and  subsequent  apostasy.  When  it  sub- 
sides into  self-abhorrence  for  sin  and  acquiescence  in  God's 
condemning  sentence  as  just  and  right,  every  experienced 
pastor  knows  that  the  convert  may  be  expected  to  "  wear 
well."  Soon  after  this,  a  considerable  number  offered  them- 
selves to  the  communion  of  the  church.  "  They  came  as  a 
cloud,  and  as  doves  to  their  windows."  Neighbouring  minis- 
ters, Parkman  and  Prentice,  and  Edwards  from  Northampton, 
preached  there,  and  with  good  effect.  "  During  all  this,  we 
were  not  exercised  with  any  public  outcries  in  time  of  public 
worship  ;  although  there  might  frequently  be  discovered, 
persons  under  a  most  deep  and  solemn  sense  of  the  truths 
held  forth  unto  them." 

"It  is  observable  *  how,  at  this  remarkable  day,  a  spirit  of 
deep  concern  would  seize  upon  persons.  Some  were  in 
the  house,  and  some  walking  in  the  highway  ;  some  in  the 
woods,  and  some  in  the  field  ;  some  in  conversation,  and 
some  in  retirement  ;  some  children,  and  some  adults,  and 
some  ancient  persons,  would  sometimes  on  a  sudden  be  brought 
under  the  strongest  impressions  from  a  sense  of  the  great  re- 
alities of  the  other  world  and  eternal  things.  But  such 
things,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  were  usually,  if  not  ever,  im- 
pressed upon  men  while  they  were  in  some  sort  exercising 
their  minds  upon  the  word  of  God  or  spiritual  objects.  And 
for  the  most  part,  it  has  been  under  the  public  preaching  of 
the  word,  that  these  lasting  impressions  have  been  fastened 
upon  them. 

"  Religious  societies  were  now  set  up  in  several  parts  of 
the  town,  to  be  held  weekly.  And  reading,  praying,  singing 
praises,  and  speaking  one  to  another  of  their  particular  expe- 
riences were  frequently  means  of  enlargement  of  heart  ;  and 
some  were  by  this  means  brought  under  conviction,  who  were 
before  strangers  to  the  power  of  godliness.  Nevertheless, 
the  imprudent  conduct  of  a  particular  zealous  person  or  two, 
in  going  beyond  the  proper  bounds  of  duty  and  decency  in 
some  of  these  meetings,  I  do  apprehend,  was  very  hurtful  to 
the  progress  of  this  blessed  work  among  us. 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  11.  page  166. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  165 

"  We  have  had  a  considerable  number  visibly  brought 
home,  that  were  before  not  only  destitute  of  the  form  of 
godliness  ;  but  also  sundry  who  were  before  but  a  poor  char- 
acter in  point  of  morals  ;  and  I  have  reason  to  think  a  con- 
siderable number  of  such  were  now  brought  home  to  Christ, 
who  were  before  visible  professors. 

"  In  the  summer  of  1742,  but  few  persons  were  brought 
under  conviction  ;  and  from  that  time  to  this,  conversions  have 
not  to  appearance  been  so  frequent  among  us.  Nevertheless, 
in  the  fall  of  the  year  1742,  upon  the  Rev.  Mr.  Daniel  Rog- 
ers' coming  to  us,  we  had  a  considerable  revival  of  the  work  ; 
at  and  after  which,  the  spirit  of  conviction  seemed  for  a 
while  very  powerful  among  our  children,  from  eight  to  twelve 
or  fourteen  years  of  age  ;  a  small  number  of  whom,  I  would 
hope,  retain  abiding  impressions,  but  most  of  them,  I  fear, 
are  much  the  same  they  were  before  under  concern.  Also, 
about  this  time,  public  cryings-out  under  concern  became 
something  frequent  among  us  for  some  little  time  ;  though  in- 
deed seldom  when  we  had  none  but  our  own  congregation. 
But  such  things,  being  cautiously  guarded  against,  have  never 
here  become  common.  And  in  my  apprehension,  the  gos- 
pel was  attended  with  less  success  afterwards,  by  reason  of 
the  prejudices  which  many  among  us  conceived  against  the 
work,  because  of  some  public  ado,  that  they  concluded 
ought  to  have  been  better  guarded  against  than  they  were. 
But  however,  such  things,  1  am  fully  convinced,  have  been 
many  times  altogether  unavoidable,  from  the  overpowering 
views  of  the  great  reality  of  the  eternal  world  ;  and  accord- 
ingly, that  it  is  a  great  fault  in  such  persons  as  have  conceiv- 
ed such  prejudices  against  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  be- 
cause some  persons  under  the  operation  thereof  in  strong  con- 
victions or  compunction,  have  lost  the  command  of  their 
own  passions,  and  have  discovered  themselves,  when  under 
the  most  proper  concern  as  to  the  matter  of  it,  yet  through  the 
overbearings  thereof,  unable  to  command  their  own  faculties^, 

TAUNTON. 

The  Rev.  Josiah  Crocker's  account  of  the  revival  in 
Taunton,  is  dated  November  24,  1744.*  According  to  ac- 
counts which   he   received,   confirmed   by   the    appearances 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  H.    page  231. 


166  TPIE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

which  he  found  there  on  his  arrival,  Arminianism,  formahty 
and  looseness  of  morals  had  been  aiding  each  other's  growth 
at  a  fearful  rate  for  several  years  ;  though  he  appears  to  have 
felt  these  evils  more  deeply,  and  painted  them  more  strongly, 
than  most  men   would    have  done.     Under  the  preaching  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Guild  and  others,  there  had  been  some  refor- 
mation of  morals,  at  least ;  and  a  sermon  from  Tennent,  on 
his  return  from  Boston,  March,  1741,  filled  many  with  won- 
der at  his  strange  doctrine,  and  permanently  awakened  a  few. 
Thoughtfulness  and  religious  conversation   increased,  public 
worship  was  better    attended,    and  "  there   appeared  to  be 
some  external  reformation  among  many."     Early  in  August, 
Mr.  Crocker  was  invited  to  preach  there  on  probation.     His 
first  sermon  was  on  the  16th  of  that  month.     He  found  some 
degree  of  general  seriousness,  but  little  vital  piety,  and  little 
deep  and  clear  conviction  of  sin.      There  seems  to  have  been 
a  gradual  increase  of  feeling,  both  in  hfm  and  the  people,  till 
October,  when  the  Rev.   Daniel  Rogers  preached  in  Rayn- 
ham,  and  the  next  day,  at  Mr.  Crocker's  request,  at  Taun- 
ton.     Some   were  present  from  Middleborough    and    other 
neighbouring  towns,  who  were  in  great  distress.     As  the  peo- 
ple in  Taunton  had  never  before  witnessed  such  "  agonies 
and  groanings,"  Mr.  Crocker  desired  them  not  to  be  fright- 
ened or  disturbed  by  them  ;  and  as  Mr.  Rogers  preached, 
"  a  solemn  and  awful  seriousness  appeared  among  the  peo- 
ple."    The  same  day  the  Rev.   Mr.  Wheelock,  of  Leba- 
non. Ct.,  preached  at  Norton,  and  by  invitation  of  one  of  the 
deacons,  the  next  day  at  Taunton.      A  considerable  number 
were  awakened,  and  some  were  constrained,  by  the  sudden 
and  clear  perception  of  their  guilt  and  danger,  to  cry  out. 
The  first  who  cried  out  was  a  person  who  had  been  for  some 
time  "  under    some  concern,"    but  without  any  very  clear 
convictions,  and  who  had  been  much  prejudiced  against  the 
revival  on  account  of  such  things,  believing  that  they  were 
caused  by  an  evil  spirit,  or  by  some  sort  of  enchantment. 
However,  she  resolved  to  hear  Mr.  Wheelock,  and  while  on 
her  way,  "  secretly   wished  that  if  these  things  were   right, 
she  might  partake  in  them."     The  next  Sabbath,  some  pas- 
sages in  the  sermon  enabled  her  to  see  that  Christ  was  a  com- 
plete Saviour  ;  just  such  an  one  as  she  would  have  chosen, 
were  she  to  choose  a  thousand  times.     She  was  happy.     Her 
sins  seemed  to  be  subdued  and  gone  ;  and  after  this  she  was 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  167 

not  angry  and  fretful  under  crosses,  as  she  used  to  be  before. 
When  Mr.  Crocker  wrote,  her  conversation  had  continued 
to  be  as  becomes  the  Gospel. 

This  was  on  Saturday,  and  Mr.  Crocker  was  absent. 
When  he  returned  at  night  and  heard  the  history  of  the  day, 
his  thoughts  became  fixed  upon  the  words,  "Behold,  I  stand 
at  the  door  and  knock,"  as  peculiarly  appropriate  to  the 
state  of  his  people.  He  laid  aside  the  sermon  which  he  had 
prepared,  and  minuted  down  some  thoughts  that  evening  on 
this  text,  and  preached  from  it  the  next  day  with  good  effect ; 
though  he  "observed  no  visible  manifestations  of  their  con- 
viction of  their  sin,  and  distress  of  mind  therefor,  in  the  time 
of  public  exercise,  other  than  an  awful  concern  and  solemni- 
ty, which  was  evident  in  most  or  all  of  their  countenances." 
During  the  intermission,  some  followed  him  to  his  retirement 
for  instruction  and  advice.  In  the  afternoon,  Wheelock 
preached  a  "close,  searching,  experimental,  awful  and  awak- 
ening "  sermon,  on  hypocrisy  and  self-deception.  After  a  short 
intermission,  he  preached  again.  This  was  to  be  his  last 
sermon  in  the  place.  As  "  he  was  delivering  his  discourse 
very  pleasantly  and  moderately,"  the  depth  and  strength  of 
feeling  increased,  till  "  some  began  to  cry  out,  both  above 
and  below,  in  awful  distress  and  anguish  of  soul,  upon  which 
he  raised  his  voice,  that  he  might  be  heard  above  their  out- 
cries ;  but  the  distress  and  outcry  spreading  and  increasing, 
his  voice  was  at  length  so  drowned  that  he  could  not  be 
heard.  Wherefore,  not  being  able  to  finish  his  sermon,  with 
great  apparent  serenity  and  calmness  of  soul,  — he  called  to 
the  distressed,  and  desired  them  to  gather  themselves  togeth- 
er in  the  body  of  the  seats  below.  This  he  did,  that  he 
might  the  more  conveniently  converse  with  them,  counsel, 
direct,  exhort  them,  &c."  But  he  ought  not  to  have  done 
it.  In  the  first  place,  he  ought  not  to  have  raised  his  voice, 
for  that  only  increased  the  disturbance,  and  hindered  pro- 
gressive, profitable  thought.  And  he  should  have  known, 
that  people  thrown  into  such  an  uproar  that  he  could  not 
preach  to  them,  were  not  capable  of  receiving  benefit  from 
private,  personal  directions.  That  religious  experience  may 
be  genuine,  the  thinking  must  be  original,  the  teacher's  words 
only  serving  as  hints,  to  guide  the  mind  of  the  inquirer  in 
his  search  after  truth.  For  this,  Wheelock's  present  hear- 
ers were  disqualified.      They  could  only  yield  a  blind  sub- 


168  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

mission  of  mind  and  conduct  to  the  dictates  of  the  preacher, 
in  consequence  of  which  they  migin  think  themselves  con- 
verted and  be  very  happy  for  a  while  ;  but  "  having  no  root 
in  themselves,"  their  religion  would  soon  wither  and  die. 
He  should  have  sent  his  hearers  home,  to  engage  in  solitary, 
serious  thought,  in  reading  the  Bible  and  in  prayer.  There 
is  reason  to  fear  that  from  about  this  time,  and  in  the  mode 
here  exemplified,  false  conversions  were  fearfully  multiplied. 
The  number,  however,  on  this  occasion,  could  not  have 
been  great  ;  for,  after  Wheelock's  departure,  Mr.  Crocker 
found  but  few  who  had  ''  received  comfort."  As  yet,  Mr. 
Crocker  "  found  little  if  any  open  opposition  among  the  peo- 
ple ;  though  afterwards,  the  religious  concern  among  some 
of  the  people  wearing  off,  or  at  least  abating,  they  began  to 
stumble  at  and  oppose  more  freely  and  openly  these  appear- 
ances." It  would  be  interesting,  were  it  practicable,  to  give 
a  minute  account  of  the  state  of  Mr.  Crocker's  own  mind  at 
this  season.  He  was  evidently  a  man  of  very  considerable 
power  and  acquirements,  liable  to  strong  excitement,  and 
probably  to  great  depression  of  spirits.  He  exclaims  : 
"  What  a  wonderful  reformation  was  then  in  this  town  !  It 
is  impossible  fully  to  describe  it.  Moreover,  I  labor  under 
some  peculiar  disadvantages,  so  that  I  cannot  give  so  full  and 
particular  an  account  of  things  of  a  religious  nature,  especially 
in  the  time  of  the  greatest  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as 
otherwise  I  might  have  done  ;  being  but  a  stranger  among 
and  unacquainted  with  them,  and  not  committing  particular 
accounts  of  things  to  writing  in  the  time  of  them  ;  and  labor- 
ing under  many  perplexities,  particularly  awful  spiritual  dark- 
ness, desertion  and  temptation  for  the  most  of  that  fall  and 
winter  ;  my  memory  being  also  impaired  thereby.  Indeed, 
it  was  a  wonder  of  the  power  and  grace  of  God,  that  I  was 
carried  through  the  service  I  was  called  unto."  Still,  he 
was  carried  through  that  service,  so  as  to  perform  it,  in  the 
main,  correctly  and  with  good  effect  ;  though  it  is  by  no 
means  sure  how  much  the  elevations  and  depressions  of  his 
own  spirits  may  have  affected  the  character  and  influence  of 
his  labors,  and  aggravated  whatever  was  objectionable. 

In  November,  he  left  Taunton  for  a  week  or  two,  and  on 
his  return  found  the  attention  of  some  of  his  people  turned 
from  the  state  of  their  own  hearts,  to  disputes  concerning 
outcries  and   the   like  ;  yet  most  who  had   been  awakened, 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  169 

Still  continued  anxious,  or  had  found  peace  in  believing.  He 
accepted  their  call  to  the  pastoral  office,  and  continued 
preaching  to  them  till  the  latter  part  of  January  ;  when  oppo- 
sition and  difficulties  increasing,  he  went  to  Ipswich  to  con- 
sult a  relative,  who  thought  it  best  to  exchange  pulpits  with 
him  for  two  or  three  weeks.  Perhaps  his  friends  thought  he 
needed  a  respite  from  the  anxieties  that  oppressed  him  at 
Taunton.  There  was  no  railroad  then  between  the  two  plac- 
es ;  travelling,  in  the  depth  of  that  winter,  was  difficult,  and 
he  remained  at  Ipswich  till  late  in  March  ;  witnessing, 
meanwhile,  "  much  of  the  glorious  work  of  God's  grace  " 
there,  and  in  the  vicinity.  On  his  return,  the  seriousness 
among  the  people  still  continued,  but  was  less  general  than 
when  he  left.  His  ordination,  May  19,  1742,  seems  to  have 
been  followed  by  some  reviving  of  the  work,  and  there  were 
a  few  instances  of  conversion. 

As  the  fruits  of  this  revival,  one  hundred  and  two  persons 
joined  the  church  in  full  communion,  and  some  united  with 
other  churches.  A  few  of  the  former  communicants  were 
awakened  and  apparently  converted. 

Mr.  Crocker  gives  a  very  clear  account  of  the  exercises 
of  these  converts  ;  or,  to  speak  learnedly,  of  the  psycho- 
logical phenomena  of  the  revival.  Their  exercises  differed 
circumstantially ;  some  being  awakened  suddenly,  others 
more  gradually  :  some  having  clearer  and  more  awful  convic- 
tions than  others,  and  continuing  longer  "  under  a  spirit  of 
bondage  ;"  that  is,  under  a  sense  of  obligation  and  fear  of 
punishment,  but  without  filial  confidence  in  God  ;  and  some 
receiving  consolation  more  suddenly  and  in  greater  measure 
than  others.  But  under  all  these  varieties,  the  mental  pro- 
cess was  essentially  the  same.  They  "  were  convinced  of 
their  sins,  original  and  actual,"  having  "  their  sins  set  in  or- 
der before  their  eyes  in  a  clear  and  convincing  light,  and 
with  particular  application."  They  not  only  admitted  that 
they  were  sinners,  but  saw  clearly  the  sinfulness  of  particu- 
lar acts  and  states  of  mind,  that  they  were  conscious  of  and 
remembered  ;  and  from  the  insight  thus  obtained  into  their 
own  characters,  learned  that  their  hearts  were  originally  prone 
to  evil  ;  that  the  race  to  which  they  belonged,  is  a  sinful 
race.  As  sinners,  they  found  themselves  "under  the  wrath 
and  curse  of  almighty  God,  and  continually  exposed  to  the 
immediate  and  actual  execution  thereof  upon  them  in  hell." 

15 


170  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

They  saw  also  "  their  lost  and  undone  estate  in  and  of  them- 
selves, or  in  and  of  any  creature  ;"  their  "  utter  inability  to 
deliver  themselves  from  this  wretched  state,"  and  their  need 
of  such  help  as  no  created  being  could  afford.  But  it  was 
hard  to  submit  to  the  practical  inference  from  this  appalling 
truth.  Though  convinced  of  their  impotence,  they  still 
continued  to  make  efforts,  till,  "having  wearied  themselves 
with  seeking  rest  in  and  from  themselves,  their  duties,  tears, 
repentings,  &c.,  and  being  convinced  of  God's  righteousness, 
though  he  should  cast  them  off  for  ever,"  they  "  were 
brought  to  submit  to  God's  sovereignty,"  acquiescing  in  his 
right  to  dispose  of  them  as  he  should  see  fit ;  yet  not  in  de- 
spair, but  thinking,  "  Who  knows  but  God  may  be  gracious  .'"' 
"  Upon  their  submission,  they  felt  a  calmness  in  their  souls, 
having  done  quarrelling  and  disputing  with  the  justice  of 
God."  When  thus  submissive,  and  not  seeking  for  relief  or 
hope  in  any  other  way,  "  they  had  a  discovery  of  Christ, 
and  the  new  covenant  way  of  life  in  and  through  him." 
They  "saw  his  glory,  all-sufficiency,  suitableness,  and  read- 
iness to  save  even  the  chief  of  sinners,  according  to  the 
gospel,  and  "  had  their  hearts  sweetly  and  freely  drawn  out 
to  receive  Christ,  and  rest  upon  him  and  him  alone  for  salva- 
tion." "These  discoveries  were  generally  given  them  in 
and  with  some  texts  of  Scripture  ;"  not  that  the  mere  fact 
of  such  a  text  coming  into  their  minds  was  a  sufficient  war- 
rant for  applying  its  comforts  to  themselves  ;  but  the  text 
was  the  means  of  conveying  truth  to  their  minds,  and  while 
they  meditated  on  a  text,  or  perhaps  when  it  first  occurred 
to  them,  they  saw  in  it  a  fulness  of  meaning  and  an  applica- 
bility to  themselves,  which  they  had  never  seen  before. 
And  why  should  it  not  be  so  ?  They  had  never  before  so 
well  understood  themselves,  and  of  course  never  were  so 
well  prepared  to  understand  the  teachings  of  Scripture  con- 
cerning the  way  in  which  such  creatures  must  be  saved. 
"Or  if  they  had  no  text  of  Scripture,  as  they  remember,  at 
first,  there  immediately  came  many  flowing  in  upon  their 
minds."  They  now  found  peace  of  conscience,  and  joy  in 
proportion  to  their  faith  ;  "  had  their  mouths  filled  with 
praises  of  Christ,  glorying  in  him,  and  commending  him  to 
others  ;  had  their  love  drawn  out  to  God,  and  to  all  man- 
kind," but  especially  to  Christians  ;  "  loving  and  forgiving 
their  enemies,  being  filled  with  a  concern  for  the  salvation  of 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  171 

precious  and  immortal  souls  ;  mourning  for  and  hating  sin  as 
against  God,"  and  as  dishonorable  to  him.  Of  course  they 
hated  and  avoided  sin  ;  for  on  account  of  their  sins  they  had 
pronounced  themselves  worthy  of  everlasting  perdition,  be- 
fore they  found  peace.  Such,  for  substance,  though  varying 
circumstantially,  according  to  the  strength,  clearness  and  pe- 
culiar character  of  each  individual  mind,  were  the  "  experi- 
ences "  of  the  converts  in  this  revival.  The  fruits  were, 
perseverance  in  the  various  duties  of  piety  and  morality. 

Will  any  thinking  man  pretend,  that  a  well-informed  pas- 
tor or  church  member,  who  has  himself  been  through  such 
a  series  of  exercises,  and  has  been  acquainted  with  others 
during  the  same  process,  cannot  judge  whether  his  neighbour, 
in  telling  his  "  experience,"  is  telling  what  he  has  actually 
experienced,  or  is  merely  reciting  a  story  that  he  has  learned, 
or  a  fiction  of  his  own  brain  .'*  Will  not  the  tale  that  has 
been  committed  to  memory  betray  itself,  by  the  want  of  in- 
dividual peculiarities,  in  keeping  with  the  known  character  of 
the  relator  .''  And  how  many  men  have  genius  enough  to 
invent  a  self-consistent  psychological  history  of  their  own 
minds  during  a  period  of  excitement  ?  In  fact,  judgments 
founded  on  such  relations  are  not  usually  false  ;  and  in  this 
revival  at  Taunton,  though  the  occasions  of  self-deception 
were  somewhat  abundant,  but  few  of  the  supposed  converts 
failed  to  evince  the  reality  of  their  conversion  by  persever- 
ing holiness  of  life. 

Mr.  Crocker  mentions  his  acquaintance  with  the  revivals 
in  Middleborough,  Plymouth,  Bridgewater,  Raynham,  Berke- 
ly,  Norton,  Attleborough,  Martha's  Vineyard,  "  and  other 
places  ;"  adding,  —  "  As  far  as  I  am  capable  of  judging,  the 
divine  influence  is  the  true  spring  thereof,  and  the  revival 
seems  to  be  the  same  for  substance  in  every  of  these  places." 

MtDDLEBOROUGH. 

The  revival  in  Middleborough  derives  unusual  interest 
from  the  name  of  Peter  Thacher,  the  pious  pastor  of  that 
church.  He  was  ordained  there  November  2,  1709,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one.  The  church  had  then  but  twenty  mem- 
bers, nine  male  and  eleven  female.  About  the  year  1724, 
his  parish  was  divided,  and  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Ruggles  or- 
dained in  the  west  precinct.  In  1734,  another  division 
transferred  a  part  of  his  flock  to  the  church  in  Halifax.     Yet, 


172  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

in  the  winter  of  1740,  his  church  contained  about  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  members.  For  some  time,  however,  he 
had  been  compelled  to  lament  the  unfruitfulness  of  his  minis- 
try, and  the  indifference  of  his  people.  Only  one  person 
had  offered  to  unite  with  the  church  for  nearly  two  years. 
Mr.  Thacher  could  not  feel  satisfied  to  live  where  he  had 
no  evidence  of  usefulness.  He  began  to  think  that  God 
chose  to  work  in  Middleborough  by  some  other  instrument. 
He  talked  of  resigning  his  pastoral  charge  ;  but  could  find  no 
suitable  text  for  his  farewell  sermon.  Tennent  preached 
there  on  his  return  from  Plymouth,  in  March,  1741.  From 
reports  which  Mr.  Thacher  had  heard  concerning  him,  he 
felt  "sensible  prejudice"  against  his  person  and  ministry; 
but  a  few  sentences  of  his  first  prayer  convinced  him  that 
Tennent  was  a  man  of  God,  and  his  prejudice  vanished.  Mr. 
Thacher  laid  his  case  freely  open  to  his  visitor,  and  told  him 
of  the  discouragements  of  his  ministry,  expressing  his  ap- 
prehension that  God  was  "  about  to  break  up  his  house  with 
us."  Tennent  said,  "No,  but  to  revive  his  work."  He 
was  "  glad  to  see  the  devil  so  vexed.  It  was  a  good  sign." 
"The  assembly,"  Mr.  Thacher  says,  "was  small: — no 
visible  effect ;  yet  from  that  day  my  people  were  more  in- 
clined to  hear."  Such  was  very  frequently  the  result  of  a 
visit  and  a  sermon  or  two  from  Tennent.  Yet  "  some  half 
a  dozen  were  roused  by  Mr.  Tennent's  preaching,"  and  they 
and  others  were  still  further  awakened  "  by  the  ministry  of 
the  pious  Mr.  Rogers.*  Yet,  though  their  convictions  were 
remarkable,  they  seemed  to  give  no  additional  strength  to 
the  power  of  religion,  because  they  were  among  those  that  had 
the  form  of  godliness  before.  But  hereby  God  was  preparing 
me  some  sweet  helpers,  though  the  devil  from  this  circum- 
stance took  occasion  to  reproach  the  work  ;  so  that  from  this 
time  I  may  date  the  open  strife  between  the  houses  of  David 
and"  of  Saul,  that  still  subsists."  In  other  words,  the  op- 
position arose  from  the  unwillingness  of  church  members  to 
have  their  own  hopes  shaken. 

"  In  the  beginning  of  October  following,"  he  says,f  "on  a 
Tuesday  I  proposed  a  day  of  prayer ;  and  spake  to  my  brother 
Shaw  for  his  assistance.      This  was  our  errand  to  the  throne 


*  Rev.  Daniel  Rogers,  of  Ipswich. 
t  Christian  History,  Vol.  II.  p.  89. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  173 

of  Grace,  to  ask  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  on  this  dry  fleece. 
That  week  some  of  my  lately  awakened  brethren  obtained  a 
visit  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Crocker.  They  appointed  a  lec- 
ture for  him  the  Friday  ;  which  pleased  me  to  hear  of  on  my 
return  from  my  journey.  He  preached  next  morning  ;  one 
cried  out ;  the  little  assembly  was  struck  with  awe  and  seri- 
ousness ;  which  gave  some  hopes  of  a  revival.  He  prom- 
ises a  visit  on  Monday.  Of  this,  public  notice  was  given  the 
next  day,  the  Sabbath.  All  that  day  my  hearers  seemed 
very  attentive,  and  some  meltings. 

"  The  next  day,  being  the  23d  day  of  November,^  1741, 
Mr.  Crocker  came.  We  began  about  one.  He  preached 
from  Romans  8:1.  This  he  opened  largely;  giving  the 
characters  of  them  that  were  in  Christ ;  and  inferred  the  mis- 
ery of  those  who  found  not  the  characters  in  themselves  of 
their  being  in  Christ ;  there  was  nothing  but  condemnation 
for  them  ;  showing  what  that  damnation  was,  &c.  After 
sermon  there  was  an  exhortation  dehvered.f  Many  now 
melted  down.  After  the  blessing,  the  people  generally 
stayed,  till  some  cried  with  terror,  which  flew  like  lightning 
into  every  breast ;  I  suppose,  none  excepted.  I  have  written 
accounts  of  seventy-six  that  day  struck,  and  brought  first  to 
inquire  what  they  should  do  to  escape  condemnation.  This 
inquiry  awakened  many.  There  were  a  number  of  profes- 
sors of  religion  that  day,  whose  lamps  went  out.  They 
discovered  there  was  no  oil  of  true  grace  in  them.  There 
were  four  persons  that  this  day,  being  left  alone  in  the  sev- 
eral houses  to  which  they  belong,  were  I  suppose  savingly 
awakened  that  day,  by  the  consideration  that  they  were  left. 
After  a  stay  with  the  distressed  in  public,  many  followed  us 
home.  Those  that  we  had  not  opportunity  to  ask  openly  the 
state  of  their  souls,  and  the  reason  of  their  outcry,  repaired 
to  us.  They  tell  us,  they  see  now  what  they  never  did  be- 
fore ;  their  original  guilt  and  actual  sins,  and  fear  of  the 
dreadful  wrath  of  the  Lord.  This  filled  them  with  unutter- 
able anguish.  They  seemed  to  be  stepping  into  hell.  This 
drew  trembling  fear  and  cries  from  them.      They  complain 

*  This  date  appears  to  be  correct,  though  irreconcilable  with  some  oth- 
ers, given  both  by  Mr.  Thacher  and  Mr.  Crocker. 

]  This  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Thacher  himself;  though  he  modestly  for- 
bore to  mention  himself,  and  rather  chose  to  give  the  names  of  other  in- 
struments.—  Ed.  Ch.  Hist. 

15* 


174  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

of  hard  hearts,  and  bhnd  eyes  !  That  they  should  never  see 
before  !  Especially  unbelief!  O  !  how  dreadful  to  give  the 
God  of  truth  the  lie  !  They  now  complain  they  cannot  be- 
lieve, find  their  hearts  full  of  emnity  to  God,  to  Christ,  to 
his  holiness,  his  word,  and  saints.  Scores,  this  day,  told  me 
of  their  hatred  of  me,  above  any  one.  But  to  hear  the 
young  people  crying  and  wringing  their  hands,  and  bewailing 
their  frolicking  and  dancing,  their  deriding  public  reproofs 
therefor,  was  affecting.  O  !  how  heavy  now  did  their  con- 
tempt and  neglect  of  Christ  appear  to  them,  as  the  effect  of 
these  corrupt  principles  of  pride,  unbelief,  and  enmity,  and 
vicious  practices  of  mirth  and  jollity  !  Their  mouths  are  at 
once  filled  with  arguments  to  justify  God  in  their  eternal  dam- 
nation, and  condemn  those  principles  and  practices  they  had 
been  ruled  by  and  led  into  ;  and  this  from  Scripture.  This 
the  peculiar  work  of  the  Spirit,  to  convince  of  sin  and  un- 
belief. 

"  Well,  the  next  evening,  we  had  another  lecture.  Though 
an  excessive  rain,  yet  many  came,  and  the  word  was  power- 
ful. Thus  the  Lord  began  to  hear,  as  soon  as  it  was  in  our 
hearts  to  ask. 

"  From  this  time,  there  was  an  uncommon  teachableness 
among  my  people.  Scarce  one  word  of  counsel  seemed 
lost,  or  a  sermon  in  vain.  From  this  time,  they  must  have 
four  sermons  in  a  week ;  two  Tuesdays,  two  Thursdays. 
The  word  of  the  Lord  was  very  precious  in  those  days.  In 
a  few  days  from  that  23d  of  November,  so  greatly  to  be  re- 
membered, there  appeared  to  be  above  two  hundred  awakened; 
and  it  was  some  days,  and  weeks,  and  months,  before  they 
were  brought  sensibly  to  close  with  Christ.  Most  of  them 
tarried  long  in  the  birth  ;  and,  so  far  as  I  am  capable  to 
judge,  gave  as  distinct  and  clear  an  account  of  their  espousing 
to  Jesus  Christ ;  the  means,  his  word  of  promise,  and  time, 
as  they  could  of  any  action  of  human  life.  This,  not  all  in 
the  same  manner  under  the  preparatory  work  ;  but  all  came 
to  the  same  espousing,  closing  act,  when  they  were  brought 
out  of  darkness  into  marvellous  light ;  when  the  prison  doors 
were  opened,  their  captive  souls  set  free  ;  when  set  free  from 
the  oppressing  burdens  of  guilt  they  so  long  bare  ;  when  the 
Lord  led  them  into  the  wilderness  and  there  spake  kindly  to 
them,  saying  live.  Now  they  understood  what  it  was  to  have 
the  everlasting  gates  and  doors  of  their  souls  set  open,  and 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  175 

the  glorious  king  entering.  How  pleasantly  affecting  to  hear 
them  tell  of  their  submission  to  God's  righteousness,  re- 
signing to  the  hands  of  justice,  and  how  sweetly  and  speedily 
in  a  moment  they  found  themselves  inclosed  in  the  everlasting 
arms  of  mercy  !  Who  would  not  be  encouraged  to  come 
to  this  submission  ?  To  hear  them  speak  of  the  glories  of 
the  Redeemer  and  his  infinite  fulness  ;  how  oft  would  they 
break  out,  O !  we  are  sure,  from  God's  word  and  our  own 
experience,  there  is  enough  for  all,  every  one  in  the  world  ! 

"  This  awakes  professors,  very  moral  and  blameless  in 
life,  to  inquire  into  their  own  standing.  The  most  find  they 
built  on  the  sand,  that  they  lived  to  themselves,  rested  in 
their  duties,  were  mere  hypocrites  ;  and  after  a  while,  they 
joyfully  tell  me  :  '  I  have  found  my  feet  on  the  rock.  I 
never  knew  what  it  was  to  have  my  will  subdued  and  heart 
changed  and  Christ  there,  till  now.  And  now  I  know  I  have 
the  witness  in  myself,  and  the  Spirit  in  the  word  witnesses 
with  my  spirit.  1  am  sure  religion  is  real,  no  fable,  no  de- 
hision  !  Christ  is  meat  indeed,  and  drink  indeed.  I  never 
knew  what  pleasure  was,  before  Christ  gave  it  me ;  and  what 
he  hath  given,  is  better  than  all  the  world.'  Such  an  account, 
I  suppose,  there  are  more  than  two  hundred  can  give. 

"  The  work  grew  daily  ;  the  numbers  were  increased  ; 
near  one  hundred  and  seventy,  the  following  year,  joined  to 
the  church." 

So  far  Mr.  Thacher  had  written,  but  not  revised,  for  the 
press.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  dated  September  6th,  1742, 
he  wrote:  —  "God's  work  yet  prevails  among  us;  and, 
blessed  be  God,  there  are  yet  many  tokens  of  good  in  this 
Zion."  In  his  own  spirit,  the  revival'  never  suffered  any 
abatement,  but  rather  grew  brighter,  till  its  light  was  lost 
among  the  glories  of  the  heavenly  world.  During  the  first 
week  in  April,  1744,  he  preached  to  his  own  people  and  at 
Plymouth  eight  times  ;  closing  his  last  discourse,  which  was 
on  the  8th  of  the  month,  by  telling  his  people  that  he  did 
not  know  whether  he  should  ever  see  or  speak  to  them  again. 
Returning  home,  he  told  his  wife  he  did  not  know  but  his 
work  was  done.  He  was  restless  that  night,  and  rapidly 
declined  till  his  death,  which  was  on  the  Sabbath,  April 
22d.  "  On  Wednesday  afternoon,"  says  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Prince,  "was  such  an  extraordinary  confluence  from  the 
neighbouring  towns,  as  was  never  seen  in  the  place  before,  to 


176  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

attend  die  funeral.  When  the  coffin  was  carried  out,  there 
was  great  weeping.  — When  set  on  the  edge  of  the  grave,  it 
lay  there  some  time,  and  they  seemed  to  be  loath  to  let  him 
down  ;  nor  did  I  ever  see  so  many  weepers  before." 

In  his  "  Attestation,"  dated  June  30,  1743,  he  wrote  :  — 
"  We  have  not  known  visions,  nor  trances,  nor  revelations  ; 
but  brotherly  exhorting,  with  more  modesty  and  affection  than 
hath  been  represented.  Neither  have  these  divine  influences 
been  attended  with  Anabaptistical  errors.  Twenty,  that 
were  before  in  those  mistakes,  have  been  brouglit  off. 
Neither  have  they  been  attended  with  the  errors  of  Familism, 
or  Antinomianism.  The  Arminian  errors  were  by  the  con- 
verts universally  detected  and  detested.  The  doctrines  of 
grace  shine  in  their  understandings,  defended  and  earnestly 
contended  for  from  inward  and  real  experience.  Their  lives 
are  reformed,  as  well  as  principles  scripturally  renewed. 
The  drunkard  is  sober ;  the  churl  peaceful ;  personal  feuds, 
that  had  been  subsisting  more  than  eleven  years,  are  buried  ; 
and  love  takes  place  and  power,  where  envy  and  malice  and 
hatred  had  formerly  ruled." 

HALIFAX. 

In  Halifax,  from  the  Rev.  John  Cotton's  account,  dated 
July  26,  1743,*  the  revival  seems  to  have  exhibited  little 
^  that  was  peculiar.  The  inhabitants,  he  tells  us,  had  been 
"a  sober  sort  of  people,"  among  whom  tavern-haunting, 
swearing,  and  such  vices,  had  never  prevailed  to  such  a  degree 
as  in  many  other  places  ;  "  but  the  common  indifference  and 
lukewarmness  in  religion  had  too  much  the  ascendant."  In 
the  summer  of  1741,  they  heard  many  contradictory  reports 
concerning  the  state  of  religion  in  other  places,  by  which 
they  were  "  set  upon  a  gaze,  and  knew  not  what  to  think," 
and  "  were  filled  with  concern,  what  would  be  the  event  of 
things."  Near  the  close  of  August,  they  held  a  day  of  fast- 
ing and  prayer  for  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  In  No- 
vember, about  forty  or  fifty  of  the  people  heard  Mr.  Wheel- 
ock  preach  at  Bridgewater.  "Not  only  myself,  but  almost 
all  my  people  present,  were  fully  satisfied  with  what  they 
heard  and  saw  ;  they  were  convinced  that  it  was  God's 
doing.      They  brought  home  such  a  report  as  gave  a  wonder- 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  page  259. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING  177 

ful  turn  to  the  course  of  things  among  us.  The  evil  reports 
were  banished  and  chased  away,  except  a  few,  as  bats  before 
the  hghtof  the  sun.  Some  few  of  the  hearers  present,  who 
were  mostly  communicants,  returned  home  under  strong  con- 
victions ;"  and  their  conversation  was  one  of  the  greatest 
means  of  spreading  the  concern  through  the  town. 

At  a  private  meeting  at  his  own  house  one  evening  in  No- 
vember, Mr.  Cotton  read  Mr.  Edwards'  "Narrative  of  Sur- 
prising Conversions."  After  the  service  was  ended,  one 
person  cried  out  in  great  distress.  When  she  heard  a  person 
cry  out  under  Mr.  Wheelock's  preaching  at  Bridgewater,  she 
had  said  to  herself,  "  Ah,  you  are  a  hypocrite,  and  you  will 
be  discovered  within  this  twelve-month."  But  though  she 
disliked  the  sermon  and  outcries,  she  could  not  feel  at  ease 
after  her  return  ;  and  her  anxiety  and  conviction  increased, 
till  now  she  pronounced  herself  a  hypocrite,  and  thought 
everybody  else  better  than  she.  Mr.  Cotton  and  others  "  ob- 
served her  narrowly"  for  some  time,  and  were  convinced 
that  she  was  actually  overpowered  by  her  sense  of  guilt  and 
danger,  and  unable  to  conceal  her  emotions.  After  some 
days,  she  found  peace. 

After  this,  there  was  no  considerable  crying  out  under  con- 
viction in  the  public  assembly  during  service  time  ;  but  some 
manifested  great  distress  after  service,  at  private  meetings, 
and  in  their  own  houses.  Those  who  cried  out,  however, 
were  but  a  small  part  of  the  whole  number  of  the  convicted, 
and  their  mental  exercises  did  not  differ  from  those  of  others, 
unless  in  degree. 

But  few  "received  comfort"  before  the  next  spring. 
"  Then  a  considerable  number  did  ;  and  in  about  three 
months  time  there  were  forty-four  added  to  the  church." 
The  whole  number,  before  the  end  of  that  year,  was  sixty- 
two,  and,  by  the  middle  of  the  next,  sixty-nine. 

In  the  summer  of  1742,  there  were  some  instances  of  per- 
sons being  overcome  with  joy,  fainting,  crying  out,  and  the 
like.  In  the  fall  and  winter  they  increased,  "  though  never 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  break  up  public  worship."  Mr.  Cot- 
ton was  silent  on  this  head  for  some  time,  being  at  a  loss  what 
to  say  ;  but  learning  that  some  one  from  a  neighbouring  town 
was  teaching  the  young  people,  that  the  more  they  cried  out 
the  better,  if  done  in  sincerity,  he  thought  it  time  to  speak. 
He  told  them,  that  if  they  cried  when  they  could  refrain  from 


178  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

it,  they  acted  sinfully  ;  though,  if  they  actually  could  not  re- 
frain, he  had  nothing  to  say.  After  this,  such  "  manifesta- 
tions" seemed  to  have  abated. 

A  few  of  the  converts,  who  had  been  Arminians,  were 
driven  by  abhorrence  of  their  former  error  into  Antinomian- 
ism  ;  but  good  instructions  soon  recovered  them.  They 
were  free  from  "separations,"  and  from  trances  and  visions, 
except  that,  in  the  early  stage  of  the  revival,  one  or  two  were 
"something  visionary."  Lay  exhorters,  they  allowed  not ; 
and,  in  short,  there  were  no  disorders  that  became  general,  or 
lasted  long.  But  few  of  the  supposed  converts  fell  away. 
During  the  decline  of  the  revival,  one  girl  "  endeavoured  to 
counterfeit  the  joys  of  others  ;  but  she  was  soon  detected  by 
the  friends  of  the  reformation."  New  instances  of  convic- 
tion occurred  at  times  till  the  autumn  of  1742  ;  and  the  con- 
cern of  some  that  had  been  awakened,  continued  when  the 
account  was  written. 

Mr.  Cotton's  testimony  concerning  the  evil  reports  of  the 
day,  and  their  authors,  is  of  uncommon  value  ;  as,  from  and 
even  before  the  commencement  of  the  revival  in  Halifax,  he 
made  it  his  business  to  trace  back  such  reports  to  their  fountain- 
head.  He  believed  that  a  considerable  number  of  those  who 
had  not  been  able  to  "  see  through  the  present  reformation" 
were  good  men,  who  had  not  had  opportunities  for  personal 
observation,  or  had  been  too  much  under  the  influence  of 
others,  or  in  some  other  way  hindered  from  learning  the 
truth.  But  asserts  expressly,  that  "  the  greatest  cry  pro- 
ceeds from  those  that  are  of  Arminian  principles,  and  of 
irregular  lives  ;"  though  some  violent  opposers  were  Antino- 
mians,  who  "stiffly  deny  that  ever  an  elect  person  is  a 
child  of  the  devil."  Of  the  evil  reports,  he  says  :  —  "  Some 
I  found  to  be  wholly  groundless  ;  others  were  gross  misrep- 
resentations ;  the  bad  circumstances  of  a  story  were  picked 
up  and  related,  and  all  the  good  suppressed  ;  and  sometimes, 
when  only  one  was  guilty,  the  whole  body  were  charged  ;  and 
when  any  particular  person  had  really  said  or  done  amiss,  and 
was  soon  brought  to  a  sense  of  it  and  to  repentance  for  it,  I 
found  that  the  repentance  did  not  fly  an  hundredth  part  as 
fast  as  the  sin.  Those  that  have  been  most  opposite  to  this 
reformation,  have  all  along  betrayed  an  utter  aversion  to  ex- 
amine things  to  the  bottom.  When  urged,  over  and  over,  to 
go  and  discourse  with  the  young  converts,  and  that  not  only 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  179 

with  one  or  two,  but  with  many  of  them,  and  examine  thor- 
oughly into  their  case,  they  could  not  be  prevailed  with  to 
do  it,  but  kept  aloof ;  so  that  some,  that  live  in  places  where 
this  reformation  has  been  most  prevalent,  know  as  little  of  it, 
as  if  they  had  lived  scores  of  miles  off."  This  is  just 
what  a  good  judge,  of  human  nature  would  suppose,  from  the 
manifest  spirit  of  the  times  ;  but  as  those  reports  were  gath- 
ered up,  thrown  into  newspapers,  made  into  books,  published 
in  Europe  and  America,  used  as  the  basis  of  official  action, 
and  have  produced  extensive  effects  which  still  remain,  it  is 
well  to  have  the  express  testimony  of  a  man  of  good  sense 
and  good  character,  who  took  pains  at  the  time  to  ascertain 
their  exact  value.  Not  that  Mr.  Cotton  is  a  solitary  witness, 
for  perhaps  every  contemporary  account  or  "attestation"  of  a 
revival  substantially  confirms  his  testimony  ;  but  few  others, 
if  any,  seem  to  have  examined  the  subject  so  minutely,  or 
stated  the  result  so  clearly. 

PORTSMOUTH,  N.  H. 

The  Rev.  William  ShurtlefF's  account  of  the  revival  here,  | 
is  dated  June  1,  1743.*     He  says  :  — 

"  Mr.  Whitefield's  coming  among  us,  and  also  Mr.  Ten- 
nent's,  was,  I  am  persuaded,  blessed  of  God  ;  and  their 
preaching  made  instrumental  of  putting  a  great  many  upon 
shaking  off  their  heavy  slumbers  ;  and  how  reproachfully  so- 
ever any  may  speak  of  them  and  their  itinerancy,  I  must 
needs  look  upon  their  travelling  this  way  as  a  favorable  provi- 
dence, and  that  for  which  we  owe  abundant  thanksgivings  to 
the  God  of  all  grace. 

"  As  there  had  been  for  some  time  a  growing  concern 
among  us,  as  to  things  of  a  religious  nature,  and  a  remarkable 
work  of  God's  grace  going  on  in  many  parts  of  the  land  ;  the 
ministers  of  this  and  some  other  of  the  neighbouring  towns 
agreed  upon  observing  a  monthly  fast,  in  our  respective  con- 
gregations, to  seek  for  the  like  blessing.  When  the  solemni- 
ty was  attended  in  this  town,  which  was  on  Wednesday,  No- 
vember 25,  1741,  as  soon  as  the  afternoon  service  was  end- 
ed, one  cried  out  in  a  transport  of  joy,  and  others  discovered 
a  great  deal  of  distress.  The  people  did  not  care  to  dis- 
perse, insomuch  that  there  was  another  sermon  in  the  even- 

•  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  page  383. 


180  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ing  ;  and  a  great  number  of  them,  and  some  of  the  ministers 
with  them,  stayed  till  it  was  late,  in  the  place  of  public  wor- 
ship. The  next  day  a  sermon  was  again  preached  in  public, 
and  had  an  unusual  efficacy  upon  the  hearers.  The  day- 
after,  we  had  two  or  three  exercises,  and  the  congregation,  a 
great  part  of  it,  continued  together  till  late  at  night. 

"  This  Friday  was  the  most  remarkable  day  that  was  ever 
known  among  us.  The  whole  congregation  seemed  deeply 
affected  ;  and  there  was  such  a  general  outcry,  in  some  from 
a  distressing  sight  of  their  sins,  and  in  others  from  a  joyful 
sense  of  the  love  of  Christ,  that  could  not  but  put  a  great 
many  in  mind  of  the  appearing  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  of 
the  different  exclamations  that  shall  be  heard  from  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  world,  when  they  shall  see  Him  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven,  in  power   and  great  glory." 

The  meeting  was  continued  in  the  evening  ;  and  near  its 
close,  an  event,  which  in  other  circumstances  would  have 
been  trivial,  greatly  deepened  the  impression.  The  chimney 
of  a  neighbouring  house  took  fire,  and  burnt  with  uncommon 
brilliancy.  This  was  not  seen  by  the  worshippers  ;  but  the 
uncommon  light,  flashing  at  once  upon  the  windows  of  the 
meetinghouse,  without  any  known  cause,  startled  some,  whose 
consciences  told  them  that  they  deserved  to  be  arraigned  and 
condemned  immediately.  It  seemed  to  them,  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  was  actually  "  revealed  from  heaven  in  flaming  fire," 
to  "take  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,  neither 
obey  the  gospel."  A  cry  was  raised,  that  Christ  was  com- 
ing to  judgment.  Many,  who  knew  that  if  he  came  then, 
they  must  be  condemned,  and  that  they  deserved  no  respite, 
at  once  admitted  the  belief,  and  numbers,  who  before  had  not 
been  greatly  moved,  were  now  filled  with  consternation  and 
deep  distress.  The  explanation  of  this  mistake,  a  few  min- 
utes afterwards,  instead  of  dispelling  their  fears,  only  showed 
them  new  reason  to  be  afraid.  J f  they  were  so  evidently  un- 
prepared for  judgment,  as  to  be  thrown  into  consternation  by 
the  light  of  a  burning  chimney,  their  condition  was  certainly 
full  of  danger,  and  demanded  their  serious  and  immediate  at- 
tention.     Mr.   Shurtleff  proceeds  :  — 

"  As  I  was  called  abroad  the  day  next  ensuing  what  I  last 
mentioned,  it  was  surprising  to  observe  the  seriousness  that 
appeared  in  the  face  of  almost  every  one  I  occasionally  met 
with.     It  seemed  as  if  there  was  hardly  any  such  thing  as  en- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  181 

tering  into  a  house  in  which  there  was  not  some  poor  wounded 
and  distressed  soul,  and  where  there  was  not  a  greater  or  less 
degree  of  concern  in  all  belonging  to  it,  as  to  their  spiritual  and 
eternal  state.  It  was  very  affecting  to  be  called  into  one  fam- 
ily after  another,  as  I  was  going  along  the  street,  and  entreat- 
ed not  to  leave  them  till  prayer  had  been  solemnly  offered  up 
to  God  on  their  behalf.  A  divine  power  was  then  so  plainly 
to  be  seen  in  what  had  come  to  pass  among  us,  that  there  was 
hardly  any  that  durst  openly  and  expressly  deny  it.  As  for 
those  who,  through  their  own  prevailing  corruptions,  or  the 
insinuations  and  persuasions  of  others,  soon  grew  into  a  dislike 
of  it,  and  have  since  gone  so  far  as  to  pronounce  the  whole 
of  it  a  scene  of  enthusiasm,  and  to  look  upon  all  as  a  delusion, 
their  very  countenance  and  behaviour  then  plainly  spoke  the 
awful  apprehensions  they  were  under  of  its  being  from  God." 

There  was  now  a  demand  for  preaching  every  day,  and 
several  neighbouring  ministers  lent  their  assistance.  Among 
others,  Mr.  Cooper  of  Boston  was  invited.  He  remained 
nearly  three  weeks,  preaching  almost  every  evening,  with  re- 
markable success.  So  things  continued  through  the  winter. 
Assemblies  for  worship  and  instruction  were  thronged,  and 
the  number  of  communicants  was  much  increased.  The 
people  were  distinctly  taught,  from  the  beginning,  to  put  no 
confidence  in  "  outcries,  and  such  like  public  appearances  ;  — 
that  they  ought  always  to  avoid  them,  when  it  could  be  done 
without  great  inconvenience  to  themselves  ;"  and  "  that,  as 
persons  may  be  effectually  wrought  upon  by  the  word,  with- 
out any  thing  of  this  nature,  so  they  may  be  put  into  an  un- 
common degree  of  terror,  and  filled  with  a  great  deal  of  joy, 
under  the  hearing  of  it,  and  yet  continue  strangers  to  a  real, 
saving  change." 

Some  members  of  the  church  were  awakened  and  con- 
verted ;  but  the  greater  part  of  the  converts  were  persons 
who  had  very  little  of  the  form  of  religion  before.  "  Many 
of  them,  upon  their  first  being  brought  under  conviction, 
manifested  a  deep  sense  of  their  original,  as  well  as  actual 
sins  ;  complained  sadly  of  the  wickedness  of  their  hearts, 
and  bewailed  their  sin  in  rejecting  and  making  light  of  a  Sa- 
viour." The  second  part  of  this  sentence  is,  as  Biblical  stu- 
dents say,  exegetical  of  the  first.  The  "  original  sin,"  of 
which  they  repented,  was  "  the  wickedness  of  their  hearts," 
as  distinguished  from  any  individual  sinful  acts  that  flowed 
16 


182  THE    GREAT  AWAKENING. 

from  it.     This  sinfulness  of  the  heart  convinced  them  that 
they  were  the  true  children  of  apostate  Adam,  and  justly  in- 
.  eluded  in  his  condemnation.     Mr.  Shurtleff  remarks  :  — 

"  As  was  at  first  feared  and  expected,  it  must  be  confess- 
ed that  so  it  has  happened,  to  some  that  were  brought  under 
a  serious  concern  for  their  souls,  that  they  have  fallen  off 
from  their  good  beginnings,  and  are  the  same  persons  that 
they  were  before  ;  and  there  are  others,  who,  continuing  un- 
der convictions,  seem  to  have  proceeded  no  further.  But 
there  is  a  considerable  number  who  are  exhibiting  all  the  ev- 
idences that  can  be  expected,  of  a  real  conversion  to  God." 
There  are  many  similar  expressions  in  the  writings  of  that 
day  ;  indicating  that  the  revival  was  held  responsible,  by  its 
enemies,  for  the  perseverance  of  all  who  were  "  brought 
under  conviction."  Only  the  most  ignorant  would  fall  into 
such  a  mistake  now.  As  to  the  general  character  of  the 
town,  the  writer  says  :  — 

"  That  there  is  an  alteration  in  it  for  the  better,  must,  I 
think,  needs  be  owned  by  every  unprejudiced  observer. 
That  there  is  not  that  profane  cursing  and  swearing,  which 
has  formerly  been  usual,  has  been  acknowledged  by  some 
who  are  far  from  being  well  affected  to  the  present  times. 
That  the  Sabbath  is  more  strictly  observed,  is  out  of  all 
manner  of  dispute.  Family  worship,  where  it  was  neglect- 
ed, in  a  variety  of  instances  is  now  set  up.  Some,  that  were 
manifestly  of  a  narrow,  selfish  and  worldly  spirit,  and  seemed 
unwilling  to  part  with  any  thing  of  what  they  possessed  to 
any  good  and  charitable  use  whatsoever,  appear  now  to  have 
their  hearts  much  enlarged,  and  are  ready  to  distribute  of 
their  substance,  as  the  honor  of  God  and  the  wants  of  their 
fellow  Christians  have  called  for  it.  Many,  that  have  dealt 
dishonestly,  have  not  only  acknowledged  the  wrongs  they 
have  done,  but  made  restitution  for  them." 

Will  those  who  say  that  morality  is  religion,  deny  the  gen- 
uineness of  this  revival  ?     Another  extract  :  — 

"  During  the  course  of  the  spring,  and  so  of  the  summer  of 
1742,  and  autumn  following,  though  some,  that  had  for  a  con- 
siderable time  been  under  darkness  and  distress,  were  brought 
into  light  and  joy,  there  was  but  now  and  then  one  that 
was  brought  under  any  new  concern.  But  through  the  win- 
ter of  1743,  instances  of  this  nature  were  something  more 
frequent,  and  there  seemed  to   be  a  general  revival  of  that 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  183 

serious  concern  as  to  eternal  things,  which  had  appeared  for 
some  time  to  dechne. 

"  On  the  sixth  of  February  last,  which  was  the  season  of 
celebrating  the  sacrament  of  the  Supper  ;  among  others  that 
were  wrought  upon  in  the  time  of  the  sermon,  one  woman 
belonging  to  the  communion,  who  sat  in  one  of  the  galleries, 
was  so  far  affected,  and  had  her  bodily  frame  so  far  weaken- 
ed, that  she  could  not  come  down  ;  and  though  she  made 
some  signs  to  have  the  elements  brought  up  to  her,  it  was  not 
perceived,  and  so  she  went  without  them.  But  she  sweetly 
fed  upon  the  bread  of  life,  and  told  me  afterwards,  that  it  was 
the  most  blessed  sacrament  she  ever  enjoyed.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  sacred  solemnity,  the  aspect  of  most  of  the 
communicants  seemed  to  be  much  changed  from  what  it  was 
at  first ;  and  as  an  uncommon  joy  sat  upon  the  countenance 
of  many  of  them,  so,  as  soon  as  it  was  over,  they  could  not 
forbear  expressing  it,  in  the  most  sweet  and  cheerful  praises. 
There  were  but  few  of  them  that  went  from  the  house  of 
God  till  the  evening  ;  and  then  seemed  to  leave  it  with  con- 
siderable reluctancy.  We  were  not  without  something  of  a 
like  nature  upon  several  of  the  successive  communions." 

GLOUCESTER. 

Of  the  revival  here,  the  venerable  John  White  wrote  an 
account  in  March,  1744.*  He  had  been  settled  forty-one 
years.  At  the  time  of  his  settlement,  there  was  but  one 
church  there,  of  eighty-eight  members.  Its  increase  had 
been  such,  that  three  other  churches  had  been  formed  from 
its  members,  and  it  still  contained  two  hundred  and  sixty 
communicants.  The  additions,  before  this  revival,  had  come 
in  "one  after  another,  and  not  in  troops  or  clusters,  except 
at  two  seasons.  At  the  time  of  the  great  earthquake,  the 
people  were  much  frightened,  especially  the  more  rude,  ig- 
norant and  wicked  of  them  ;  but  about  a  month  after  the 
first  shocks,  when  their  terrifying  frights  were  over,  it  pleased 
God,  by  his  Spirit,  to  work  kindly  in  a  way  of  conviction, 
and  I  trust  of  conversion."  Afterwards,  the  account  of  the 
"  Surprising  Conversions"  at  Northampton  led  to  another 
awakening. 

"  But  the  first  most  visible  and  powerful  effusion  of  the  Spir- 
it was  on  the  last  Sabbath  in  January,  1742,  and  especially  as 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  page  41. 


184  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

I  was  preaching  in  the  afternoon  and  on  the  evening  in  two  re- 
ligious societies  in  the  harbour.  Many  were  impressed,  both 
with  distress  and  with  joy,  above  measure.  And  on  Mon- 
day morning,  in  the  school  of  Mr.  Moses  Parsons,  a  man 
disposed  zealously  to  serve  the  best  interests  of  all  he  has  to 
do  with,  and  being  hired  by  a  number  of  gentlemen,  to  train 
up  their  children  in  religious  exercises  and  in  singing,  as  well 
as  other  useful  knowledge,  the  Spirit  of  God  came  so  pow- 
erfully upon  the  school,  that  they  could  not  attend  the  ordina- 
ry school  exercises  ;  but,  with  their  joyful  master,  with  whom 
I  had  left  the  care  of  my  flock  while  I  went  a  journey  which 
I  was  necessitated  to  take,  and  a  multitude  of  spectators,  they 
prayed  to  and  praised  God,  by  singing  spiritual  hymns.  And 
in  the  evening  Mr.  Parsons  preached  a  lecture  in  the  meeting- 
house ;  and  in  the  close  of  the  exercise,  the  Spirit  fell  upon  a 
great  part  of  the  congregation,  to  the  amazement  of  many. 
And  people  had  such  an  appetite  to  the  word  preached,  that 
Mr.  Parsons  called  in  the  help  of  the  other  ministers  of  the 
town.  The  good  fruits  of  this  visit  are  very  apparent.  No  less 
than  twenty-one  had  their  experiences  read  the  last  Sabbath  day. 

"  The  impression  was,  at  first,  principally  on  the  one  side 
of  the  meetinghouse.  And  there  was  poured  down  a  spirit 
of  prayer  upon  young  and  old,  especially  the  younger  sort  ; 
and  children  of  five,  six,  seven  years,  and  upward,  would  pray 
to  admiration.  And  in  our  parish,  there  have  since  been  form- 
ed no  less  than  nine  distinct  societies,  of  young  and  old,  male 
and  female,  bond  and  (vee,  (for  one  of  them  is  a  society  of 
negroes,  who  in  their  meetings  behave  very  seriously  and 
decently.  They  have  been  greatly  impressed.  One  of  them 
gave  a  very  satisfying  account  of  his  experiences,  and  was 
taken  into  church-fellowship.  Most  of  them  entered  into 
covenant,  and  were  baptized  themselves,  and  also  their  issue,) 
who  meet,  several  of  them  twice  in  a  week,  to  pray  and  sing, 
as  well  as  to  read  books  of  piety,  and  the  rest  once  a  week. 
And  the  younger  say  their  catechism  to  the  head  of  the  meet- 
ing.     And  several  sermons  have  been  preached  unto  them. 

"  There  has  been  an  apparent  reformation.  Diversions, 
though  lawful  and  innocent,  have  been  almost  wholly  laid 
aside,  and  the  singing  of  Dr.  Watts'  hymns  is  the  chief  re- 
creation of  Christians  when  they  convene.  There  are  no  sep- 
arations among  us.  Little  has  been  said  about  New  Lights, 
(which  I  look  upon  as  a  term  of  reproach,  as  of  old  the  term 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  185 

Puritan  was,)  and  as  little  about  opposers  ;  the  mentioning  of 
wiiich  is  irritating,  and  tends  to  widen  the  breach,  and  foment 
divisions,  contentions  and  separations.  As  to  visions,  vve\ 
had  enough  of  them,  until  such  time  as  in  a  lecture  sermon  I 
declared  my  sentiments  concerning  them  ;  and,  so  far  as  1 
can  understand,  there  has  never  been  one  since.  Our  con- 
gregation has  been  disturbed  and  interrupted  by  outcries,  but 
I  labored  to  suppress  them.  -- 

"  I  would  add  that,  as  I  believe  there  have  been  scores 
savingly  wrought  upon,  who  were  strangers  before  that  hap- 
py day,  so  much  as  to  the  form  of  godliness,  so  some  pro- 
fessors who  rested  in  the  form,  and  were  but  legalists  or  self- 
righteous,  have  seen  tliat  they  built  upon  a  sandy  founda- 
tion, and  were  greatly  distressed  under  the  conviction  ;  and, 
by  an  earnest  application  unto  Christ  for  wisdom  and  right- 
eousness, have  had  a  further  discovery  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
have  been  encouraged  to  venture  upon  him  for  the  complete 
salvation  of  their  souls,  and  have  had  their  hearts  filled  with 
joy  in  believing.  So  also  there  have  been  scores  of  persons 
who  had  truly  closed  with  Christ  in  time  past,  but  have  walk- 
ed in  darkness,  by  means  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Spirit,  the 
weakness  of  dieir  graces,  and  prevalency  of  their  corruptions, 
and  have  been  for  a  long  time  as  in  a  wilderness.  These 
have  been  anointed  as  with  fresh  oil ;  their  hearts  have  been 
made  glad,  enlarged,  quickened  and  comforted  by  renewed 
and  continued  supplies  of  grace,  have  been  enabled  with  en- 
larged hearts  to  run  the  ways  of  God's  commandments." 

The  Rev.  Benjamin  Bradstreet,  pastor  of  llie  church  in 
Annisquam  Parish,  Gloucester,  wrote,  June  30, 1743 *  :  "In 
my  very  small  parish,  consisting  of  about  eighty  families,  we 
have  had,  in  about  twelve  months  past,  (when  we  had  before 
more  communicants  than  families,)  about  forty  added  to  the 
church,  and  all  excepting  one,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Hve 
to  bear  good  fruit.  Thanks  be  to  God,  we  have  no  divisions 
nor  separations  among  us  ;  we  are  without  dreams,  visions, 
and  trances,  (though  there  have  been  some  in  the  neighbour- 
hood,) nor  are  we  troubled  with  exhorters.  The  people 
seem  to  express  a  greater  love  for  tlieir  minister,  and  a  great- 
er desire  than  ever  to  hear  the  word  ;  and  I  hope  their  un- 
worthy minister  has  a  greater  regard  than  ever  for  their  souls." 

•  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  page  187. 

16* 


186  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 


READING. 


The  Rev.  Daniel  Putnam,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church, 
wrote,  June  30,  1743  :* 

'-  "  Sometime  in  the  beginning  of  March,  1742,  under  a 
sense  of  the  great  decay  of  religion  among  us,  we  kept  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer,  to  seek  to  God  for  the  pouring  out  of  his 
Spirit  upon  us  ;  and  God  was  pleased,  out  of  his  abundant 
grace,  to  give  us  speedy  answers  of  prayer.  For  the  space 
of  five  or  six  weeks,  more  or  less  of  my  people,  younger 
and  elder,  came  to  my  house  every  day  in  the  week  except 
Sabbaths  ;  and  manifestly  under  a  work  of  conviction,  deep- 
ly concerned  for  the  state  of  their  souls,  and  many  of  them 
expressing  themselves  in  these  words  :  '  O,  Sirs,  what  shall 
I  do,  what  shall  I  do,  to  get  rid  of  my  sins  .'"  complaining  of 
the  load  of  guilt  on  their  consciences,  and  of  the  power  of 
sin  in  their  souls  ;  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  and  of  the 
sense  of  God's  wrath  due  to  them  ;  and  some  signifying  to 
me,  that  they  even  now  felt,  what  they  only  before  knew  as  by 
hearsay,  that  the  heart  is  so  desperately  wicked,  and  by  na- 
ture so  unfit  for  heaven.  Some,  when  they  heard  mention 
made  of  Christ  and  of  the  mercy  of  God,  I  cannot  relate  the 
greatness  of  the  distress  it  put  them  into,  to  consider  that 
their  sins  were  against  such  mercy,  such  love  ! 

"  But  I  will  not  enlarge.  I  know  this  was  the  work  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  as  a  spirit  of  bondage  and  fear,  thus  con- 
vincing and  humbling  them.  And  the  most  of  these,  we 
have  grounds  to  hope,  have  been  since  as  fully  convinced  of 
righteousness  and  of  judgment,  of  the  all-sufficiency  of  Christ 
as  priest  and  king,  as  they  were  convinced  of  their  sins  and 
misery  before  ;  and  we  charitably  hope,  have  experienced  by 
faith  in  him,  through  the  merits  of  his  righteousness  and 
the  power  of  his  grace,  that  rest  that  he  gives  to  such  weary 
souls,  that  receive  him  with  their  whole  heart.  And  there 
have  been  large  additions  to  the  church,  considering  the  num- 
ber of  the  people.  And  not  only  has  this  been  the  happy 
case  of  some  that  were  without  the  visible  church,  but  even 
several  of  the  members  have  been  very  deeply  concerned 
about  the  state  of  their  own  souls,  and  I  hope  it  has  been  for 
their  everlasting  good." 


Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  page  181. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  187 

NEW  CASTLE,  N.  H. 

The  pastor,  Rev.  John  Blunt,  testified,  July  26,  1743  :* 
"  The  parish  1  am  settled  in  is  small  ;  but  God  has,  1  hope, 
by  the  influences  of  his  gracious  Spirit,  made  his  word  and 
ordinances  effectual  to  the  convincing  and  converting  a  con- 
siderable number  among  us.  The  awakening  in  months  past 
was  almost  universal.  Fear  seemed  to  fall  on  every  soul  ; 
and  the  great  inquiry  was.  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  .'* 
And  although,  I  have  reason  to  fear,  the  impressions  are  in 
a  great  measure  worn  off  from  some  ;  yet  the  lasting  good 
effects  on  many,  I  think  very  considerable,  and  for  which  I 
desire  to  adore  the  rich  and  free  grace  of  God.  Fifty  have 
been  added  to  our  communion  in  about  the  space  of  two 
years  ;  and  most  of  them  appear  to  have  their  conversation 
as  becometh  the  gospel.  Some  of  those  who  were  profes- 
sors before  this  remarkable  day  of  God's  visitation,  have 
been  of  late  much  quickened  and  enlivened  ;  and  others,  be- 
ing convinced  of  their  formality  in  times  past,  declare  how 
they  have  felt  the  power  of  God's  grace  upon  their  souls." 

WESTERLY,  R.  L 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Park's  account  of  the  revival,  or,  as  it 
is  called  with  more  propriety,  the  propagation  of  the  gospel, 
in  Westerly,  R.  I.,  is  of  more  than  ordinary  value.  With  a 
rare  degree  of  honest  simplicity,  he  exposes  to  our  view  the 
reasons  of  his  ill  success  for  several  years  ;  and  he  sets  be- 
fore us,  in  their  best  dress,  Davenport,  his  irregularities,  and 
his  exhorters.f 

Mr.  Park  was  sent,  in  May,  1733,  by  the  Commissioners 
of  the  English  Society  for  propagating  the  Gospel  in  New 
England,  as  a  missionary  to  the  Indians,  and  such  English 
as  would  attend,  in  Westerly.  He  was  then,  as  he  after- 
wards believed,  "  a  moral,  religious  person,  but  awfully  in 
the  dark  as  to  the  way  of  salvation  by  Christ."  He  "had 
been  somewhat  indoctrinated  in  gospel  truths,"  and  had 
been  too  much  enlightened  by  conviction  of  sin  to  embrace 
Arminian  principles  at  large  ;  but  still  secretly  imagined 
"  that  there  was  something  in  men  to  begin  with,  and  which 
gospel  grace  came  to  make  perfect."  He  preached  and 
labored  with  his  own  heart  accordingly  ;  "but  could  not  get 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  199.  t  Ibid.,  p.  201. 


188  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

to  such  a  pitch  as  to  think  himself  ripe  for  grace,  or  with  any 
confidence  lay  claim  to  it,"  because  he  found  his  own  works 
not  good  enough  to  build  any  such  claim  upon  ;  and  as  for 
his  people,  he  ''  could  by  no  means  prevail  upon  them  to  be 
better,  but  they  rather  grew  worse."  So  it  was  for  several 
years,  till  it  pleased  God  to  come  closer  to  him,  and  bring 
all  his  hopes  "  into  a  ruinous  heap,"  and  to  show  him  a  way 
of  justification  by  faith,  without  the  deeds  of  the  law.  He 
then  saw  "  that  the  way  to  help  forward  the  good  of  mankind, 
was.  not  to  go  to  repairing  and  mending,  but  to  pull  down  all 
as  fast  [he]  could,  because  there  was  no  foundation  at  all." 
He  now  labored  to  show  his  people  "  the  total  ruin  of  the 
first  Adam,  and  the  complete  restoration  in  the  second." 
They  could  bear  to  be  told  about  their  duty,  so  long  as  they 
could  pacify  their  consciences  with  promises  of  future  per- 
formance ;  but  to  be  told  that  they  were  wholly  dependent 
on  Christ  for  salvation,  was  intolerably  offensive.  Though 
"  their  imaginary  power  "  of  preparing  themselves  for  heaven, 
or  bringing  themselves  into  a  fitness  to  receive  divine  grace, 
"  was  of  no  advantage  to  them,  for  they  would  not  try  to 
exert  it ; "  yet  the  assertion  that  they  had  no  such  power, 
"stirred  their  indignation."  Still,  "Satan,  and  a  corrupt 
heart,"  managed  to  take  off  the  edge  of  his  preaching,  by  an 
error  then  very  common,  the  error  of  hoping,  without  evi- 
dence and  against  evidence,  that  his  hearers  were  regener- 
ate ;  so  that,  instead  of  "  making  a  full  and  particular  appli- 
cation to  souls,  by  declaring  what  their  state  was,"  as  shown 
by  their  profession  and  practice,  he  was  ready  to  say  that 
he  hoped  better  things  of  them,  and  things  that  accompany 
salvation,  though  he  thus  spake.  At  length,  God  showed 
him  his  mistake  on  this  point,  and  then  he  endeavoured  to 
come  to  the  conscience  of  every  man,  and  bring  the  truth  to 
bear  upon  it.      "  And  this  fretted  them  still  more." 

At  length,  Gilbert  Tennent  preached  there,  on  his  way  to 
Boston,  and  again  on  his  return,  with  his  usual  New  England 
result,  —  no  revival,  but  a  disturbance  of  consciences,  which 
lasted  till  there  was  one.  Opposition  to  Mr.  Park  was  now 
at  its  height.  "  Seldom  above  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty  souls 
appeared  at  the  public  assembly  ;  sometimes  not  so  many  ; 
and,  if  the  weather  was  so  as  they  could  have  any  excuse, 
many  times  none  at  all."  So  things  continued,  till  Mr. 
Davenport  came  over  from  Long  Island. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  189 

"He  preached  at  Stonington,  adjacent  to  us.  I  went 
myself,  and  divers  fi'oni  this  place,  to  hear  him,  I  had  heard 
many  strange  things  of  him,  and  strange  effects  of  his  preach- 
ing. I  went  to  meet  him  some  way  before  he  came  to  the 
meetinghouse  ;  and  upon  their  coming  in  solemn  procession, 
singing  an  hymn,  the  dread  majesty  of  God  seemed  to  fill 
heaven  and  earth,  and  a  solemnity  appeared  in  the  countenan- 
ces of  all.  He  preached  a  plain  and  awakening  sermon,  from 
John  5  :  40.  I  heard  nothing  extraordinary,  but  the  whole- 
some truths  of  the  gospel,  and  expected  no  extraordinary 
effect  ;  when,  to  my  surprise,  there  was  a  cry  all  over  the 
meetinghouse.  I  went  about  and  inquired  of  one  and  another 
the  meaning  of  their  outcry.  And  when  I  came  to  under- 
stand the  inward  and  secret  spring  thereof,  viz  :  a  deep  con- 
viction of  sin,  I  could  not  but  say,  '  This  is  the  Lord's  do- 
ings, and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes.'  Several  of  our  peo- 
ple were  pricked  to  the  heart  ;  who  heard  him  give  another 
additional  testimony  to  the  truth,  and  saw  the  wonderful  ef- 
fects of  it.  And  several  attended  his  ministry  longer  there, 
and  returned  deeply  wounded.  And  though  the  shining  light 
seemed  to  darken  me,  as  to  my  own  experiences,  yet  the 
Lord  strengthened  me  to  plead  for  his  truth,  the  witness  of 
which  I  had  in  myself.  There  continued  a  shaking  among 
many  dry  bones  ;  and  such  then  would  generally  come  to  hear 
me  preach. 

"  There  continued  much  of  the  working  of  God's  mighty 
power  at  Stonington,  and  many  were  hopefully  brought  out  of 
darkness  into  God's  marvellous  light.  And  several  of  them 
were  moved  to  testify,  and  exhort  others  to  fly  for  refuge  to 
lay  hold  of  the  hope  set  before  them.  Upon  first  hearing  of 
this,  I  disapproved  of  it  in  myself,  and  had  divers  objections 
against  it, 

"  But  providentially,  a  number  of  them  came  to  hold  a 
meeting  at  a  remote  part  of  Westerly  ;  and  one  of  m)'' 
friends,  who,  I  trust,  had  been  under  the  saving  operations 
of  God's  Spirit,  informed  me  of  his  thoughts  to  go  and  hear 
them,  and  invite  them  to  his  house  and  hold  a  meeting  there. 
I  consented,  provided  he  found  them  to  his  liking,  and  pro- 
posed myself  to  come  and  hear  them.  Accordingly,  on  the 
21st  of  January,  1742,  having  had  a  lecture  the  night  before, 
at  a  remote  part  of  Westerly,  a  number  of  the  new-born 
children  of  God  came  to  me.     Here  they  prayed  and  gave 


190  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

a  word  of  exhortation.  They  appeared  humble,  and  the 
power  of  God  seemed  to  accompany  them. 

"  I  went  with  them  to  the  place  where  they  had  appointed 
to  meet  in  the  evening.  I  joined  with  them,  and  began  with 
prayer.  They  gave  some  declaration  of  the  work  of  God 
upon  their  hearts,  in  converting  them  to  God,  and  exhorted 
the  people  to  come  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  I  gave 
public  testimony  that  this  was  the  true  grace  of  God  which 
they  set  forth,  and  encouraged  them  to  bear  the  testimony  of 
Jesus  among  the  people.  Many  were  greatly  enraged  at  them, 
and  at  me  for  countenancing  them  ;  but  1  thought  the  true  grace 
of  God  must  not  be  opposed,  but  encouraged,  wherever 
God  was  bestowing  it,  and  however  he  was  sending  it ;  so  that 
none  of  these  things  moved  me.  I  was  with  them  the  next 
day  likewise.  The  power  of  God  appeared  accompanying 
them  ;  and  I  was  myself  strengthened  and  lifted  up  by  their 
means. 

"  Upon  the  28th  day  of  the  month,  having  been  to  Ston- 
ington  to  visit  and  assist  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fish,  upon  a  lecture, 
I  was  accompanied  home  by  a  number  of  converts  ;  and 
there  being  a  considerable  concourse  of  people,  we  went  into 
the  meetinghouse.  We  prayed,  and  several  gave  a  word  of 
exhortation  ;  and  there  was  somewhat  of  the  power  of  God 
visible  among  the  people  ;  some  crying  out  under  a  sense  of 
their  sinful  and  undone  condition. 

"  Upon  the  29th  of  January,  1742,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Eells  of 
Stonington  came  and  preached  an  awakening  sermon  from 
Amos  6:1;  after  which  I  declared  publicly,  that  if  any  had 
a  word  of  exhortation  to  say,  they  were  desired  to  say  on. 
Several  Christians  gave  a  word  of  exhortation.  God  began 
then  to  work  more  powerfully.  Several  were  pricked  to  the 
heart.  Two  hopefully  received  light  and  comfort  that  day. 
The  way  was  opened  to  the  Father  in  Christ  Jesus.  They 
had  a  meeting  in  the  evening  at  such  a  distance  that  I  could 
not  attend  it.  The  wonderful  power  of  God  was  said  to  be 
visibly  manifested  ;  several  were  pricked  to  the  heart,  crying 
out.  Woe  is  me  ;  and  several  broken  hearts  were  healed. 

"  Upon  the  31st,  being  Lord's  day,  some  brethren  from 
Stonington  returned  to  keep  Sabbath  with  us.  We  had  a 
meeting  also  in  the  evening.  There  was  great  opposition  ; 
but  God  showed  himself  victorious  ;  and  several  were  wound- 
ed in  spirit,  and  one  negro  hopefully  renewed.     February  1 


THE   GREAT  AWAKENING.  191 

and  2,  we  had  meetings.  The  Lord  was  present  to  kill  and 
make  alive  ;  and  in  this  time  the  number  hopefully  converted 
was  fifteen  souls.  I  continued  frequent  lectures,  besides 
Sabbath  exercises,  among  English  and  Indians  ;  had  frequent 
help  from  ministers  and  exhorters,  the  Lord  continuing  to 
work  salvation  among  us. 

"  Before  this  day  of  God's  power,  there  was  not,  as  far  as 
ever  I  learned,  one  house  of  prayer  in  the  place,  in  two  large 
towns  containing  some  hundreds  of  families,  nor  any  that  pro- 
fessed the  faith  of  God's  own  operation,  or  the  true  doc- 
trines of  grace.  Now,  when  the  Lord  set  up  his  sanctuary 
in  the  midst  of  us,  those  heads  of  families  who  had  been  the 
happy  subjects  of  his  grace,  immediately  set  up  the  worship  of 
God  in  their  houses  ;  reading,  praying,  and  singing  the  praise 
of  God  in  psalms,  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs.  They  were 
brought  surprisingly  to  know  the  doctrine  of  the  grace  of 
God  ;  such  as  before  had  counted  it  foolishness;  and  their  souls 
were  thereby  quickened  towards  God.  They  became  ear- 
nestly engaged  to  come  into  covenant  with  the  Lord  and  one 
another  in  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel.  Accordingly,  upon 
the  29th  of  April,  1742,  a  number  of  them  set  apart  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer,  to  implore  the  direction  and  blessing  of 
God,  in  settling  gospel  worship  and  ordinances  among  them  ; 
and  upon  the  5th  of  May,  they  were  formed  into  a  church- 
state,  by  the  assistance  of  a  council  of  ministers  and  delegates 
from  Stonington,  and  upon  August  13,  1742,  through  much 
opposition,  became  an  organized  body  ;  when,  by  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  I  was  ordained  to  the  pastoral  office  over 
them. 

"  The  Lord  has  added  daily  to  the  church,  such  we  hope 
as  shall  be  saved.  The  number  of  professors  first  entering 
into  the  bonds  and  fellowship  of  the  gospel,  was  fourteen 
souls,  eight  males  and  six  females,  all  English  ;  since  which 
time  have  been  joined  to  our  communion  twenty-two  persons, 
besides  two  that  have  been  recommended  from  other  church- 
es. Of  those  added,  six  are  Indians,  and  two  negroes. 
They  all,  in  some  good  measure,  appear  hopefully  to  con- 
tinue in  the  grace  of  God,  and  with  purpose  of  heart  to 
cleave  to  the  Tiord. 

"  The  Lord,  in  the  beginning  of  his  visitation,  was  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  show  some  tokens  for  good  towards  the 
Indians,  and  singled  out  some  of  them  for  monuments  of  his 


192  THE  GREAT  AWAKENIiNG. 

free  and  sovereign  grace.  But  the  power  of  God  began  to  be 
most  remarkable  among  the  body  of  them  upon  February  6, 
1743,  when,  upon  the  Lord's  day,  a  number  of  Christian  In- 
dians from  Stonington  came  to  visit  the  Indians  here.  I 
went  in  the  evening,  after  the  pubhc  worship  of  God,  to  meet 
them,  and  preach  a  lecture  to  them.  The  Lord  gave  me  to 
plead  with  him,  that  his  kingdom  might  be  seen  coming  with 
power  among  the  Indians.  The  Lord,  I  trust,  began  to  an- 
swer, even  in  the  time  of  prayer  ;  after  which  we  sung  a  hymn. 
The  glory  of  the  Lord  was  manifested  more  and  more. 
The  enlightened  among  them  had  a  great  sense  of  spiritual 
and  eternal  things  ;  a  spirit  of  prayer  and  supplication  was 
poured  out  upon  them,  and  a  spirit  of  conviction  upon  the 
enemies  of  God.  I  attempted  to  preach  from  2  Corinthians 
6  :  2,  but  was  unable  to  continue  my  discourse  by  reason  of 
the  outcry.  I  therefore  gave  it  up,  and,  as  I  had  opportu- 
nity, offered  a  word  of  exhortation,  as  the  Lord  enabled  me. 
I  spent  the  evening  until  late  with  them.  The  Indians  con- 
tinued together  all  night,  and  spent  the  most  of  the  next  day 
and  night  together  ;  and  it  continued  a  wonderful  time  of 
God's  power.  And  from  that  time,  the  Indians  were  gener- 
ally stirred  up  to  seek  after  eternal  life.  They  flocked  more 
to  the  house  and  worship  of  God,  than  they  were  wont  to  do 
to  their  frolics.  They  remain  earnestly  inquiring  after  God, 
and  appear  many  of  them  hopefully  to  have  found  the  Lord  ; 
and  there  are  tokens  for  good  that  the  Lord  is  preparing  the 
way,  and  gathering  numbers  of  them  into  the  kingdom  of  his 
dear  Son.  There  is  now  near  a  hundred  that  come  very 
constantly,  and  attend  very  seriously,  and  I  hope,  to  profit. 
May  the  Lord  carry  on  his  work  to  perfection." 

This  awakening  among  the  Indians  appears  to  have  left 
permanent  good  effects.  Within  a  little  more  than  a  year 
from  February,  1743,  more  than  sixty  became  members  of 
the  church,  and  the  number  increased  in  subsequent  years. 
Heathenism  appears  to  have  been  extinguished  among  them. 

NORTHAMPTON. 

Here,  as  has  been  already  stated,  the  revival  had  com-. 
menced  in  the  spring  of  1740.  Whitefield's  visit  was  about 
the  middle  of  October.  Edwards  wrote,  November  12, 
1743:* 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  page  367. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  193 

"  He  preached  here  four  sermons  in  the  meetinghouse, 
besides  a  private  lecture  at  my  house,  one  on  Friday,  another 
on  Saturday,  and  two  upon  the  Sabbath.  The  congregation 
was  extraordinarily  melted  by  every  sermon  ;  almost  the 
whole  assembly  being  in  tears  for  a  great  part  of  sermon 
time.  Mr.  Whitefield's  sermons  were  suitable  to  the  cir- 
cuinstances  of  the  town ;  containing  just  reproofs  of  our 
backslidings,  and  in  a  most  moving  and  affecting  manner, 
making  use  of  our  great  profession  and  great  mercies  as  ar- 
guments with  us  to  return  to  God,  from  whom  we  had  de- 
parted. Immediately  after  this,  tlie  minds  of  the  people  in 
general  appeared  more  engaged  in  religion,  showing  a  greater 
forwardness  to  make  religion  the  subject  of  their  conversa- 
tion, and  to  meet  frequently  together  for  religious  purposes, 
and  to  embrace  all  opportunities  to  hear  the  word  preached. 
The  revival  at  first  appeared  chiefly  among  professors,  and 
those  that  had  entertained  the  hope  that  they  were  in  a  state 
of  grace,  to  whom  Mr.  Whitefield  chiefly  addressed  himself; 
but  in  a  very  short  time,  there  appeared  an  awakening  and 
deep  concern  among  some  young  persons  that  looked  upon 
themselves  as  in  a  Christless  state  ;  and  there  were  some 
hopeful  appearances  of  conversion ;  and  some  professors 
were  greatly  revived.  In  about  a  month  or  six  weeks,  there 
was  a  great  alteration  in  the  town,  both  as  to  the  revivals  of 
professors,  and  awakenings  of  others.  By  the  middle  of 
December,  a  very  considerable  work  of  God  appeared 
among  those  that  were  very  young  ;  and  the  revival  of  reli- 
gion continued  to  increase  ;  so  that  in  the  spring  an  enga- 
gedness  of  spirit  about  things  of  religion  was  become  very 
general  amongst  young  people  and  children,  and  religious 
subjects  almost  wholly  took  up  their  conversation  when  they 
were  together. 

"  In  the  month  of  May,  1741,  a  sermon  was  preached  to 
a  company  at  a  private  house.  Near  the  conclusion  of  the 
exercise,  one  or  two  persons  that  were  professors,  were  so 
greatly  affected  with  a  sense  of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  di- 
vine things  and  the  infinite  importance  of  the  things  of  eter- 
nity, that  they  were  not  able  to  conceal  it  ;  the  affection  of 
their  minds  overcoming  their  strength,  and  having  a  very  vis- 
ible effect  on  their  bodies.  When  the  exercise  was  over, 
the  young  people  that  were  present  removed  into  the  other 
room  for    religious    conference  ;  and    particularly    that  they 

17 


1  94  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

might  have  opportunity  to  inquire  of  those  that  were  thus  af- 
fected, what  apprehensions  they  had,  and  what  things  they 
were  that  thus  deeply  impressed  their  minds  ;  and  there  soon 
appeared  a  very  great  effect  of  their  conversation  ;  the  affec- 
tion was  quickly  propagated  through  the  room.  Many  of  the 
young  people  and  children  that  were  professors,  appeared  to 
be  overcome  with  a  sense  of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  divine 
things,  and  with  admiration,  love,  joy  and  praise,  and  com- 
passion to  others,  that  looked  upon  themselves  as  in  a  state  of 
nature  ;  and  many  others,  at  the  same  time,  were  overcome 
with  distress  about  their  sinful  and  miserable  state  and  condi- 
tion ;  so  that  the  whole  room  was  full  of  nothing  but  out- 
cries, faintings,  and  such  like.  Others  soon  heard  of  it,  in 
several  parts  of  the  town,  and  came  to  them  ;  and  what  they 
saw  and  heard  there,  was  greatly  affecting  to  them  ;  so  that 
many  of  them  were  overpowered  in  like  manner.  And  it 
continued  thus  for  some  hours  ;  the  time  being  spent  in  pray- 
er, singing,  counselling  and  conferring.  There  seemed  to 
be  a  consequent  happj  effect  of  that  meeting  to  several  par- 
ticular persons,  and  in  the  state  of  religion  in  the  town  in 
general.  After  this,  were  meetings  from  time  to  time,  at- 
tended with  like  appearances.  But  a  little  after  it,  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  public  exercise  on  the  Sabbath,  I  appoint- 
ed the  children  that  were  under  sixteen  years  of  age  to  go 
from  the  meetinghouse  to  a  neighbouring  house,  that  I  there 
might  further  enforce  what  they  had  heard  in  public,  and 
might  give  in  some  counsels  proper  for  their  age.  The 
children  were  there  very  generally  and  greatly  affected  with 
the  warnings  and  counsels  that  were  given  them,  and  many 
exceedingly  overcome,  and  the  room  was  filled  with  cries  ; 
and  when  they  were  dismissed,  they,  almost  all  of  them,  went 
home  crying  aloud  through  the  streets  to  all  parts  of  the 
town.  The  like  appearances  attended  several  such  meetings 
of  children  that  were  appointed.  But  their  affections  appear- 
ed, by  what  followed,  to  be  of  a  very  different  nature.  In 
many,  they  appeared  to  be  indeed  but  childish  affections,  and 
in  a  day  or  two  would  leave  them  as  they  were  before.  Oth- 
ers were  deeply  impressed  ;  their  convictions  took  fast  hold 
of  them,  and  abode  by  them  ;  and  there  were  some  that  from 
one  meeting  to  another  seemed  extraordinarily  affected  for 
some  time,  to  but  little  purpose,  their  affections  presently 
vanishing,  from  time  to  time  ;  but  yet  afterwards  were  seized 
with  abiding  convictions,  and  their  affections  became  durable. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  195 

"  About  the  middle  of  the  summer,  I  called  together  the 
young  people  that  were  communicants,  from  sixteen  to  twen- 
ty-six years  of  age,  to  my  house  ;  which  proved  to  be  a 
most  happy  meeting.  Many  seemed  to  be  very  greatly  and 
most  agreeably  afiected  with  those  views  which  excited  hu- 
mility, self-condemnation,  self-abhorrence,  love,  and  joy. 
Many  fainted  under  these  affections.  We  had  several  meet- 
ings that  summer  of  young  people,  attended  with  like  appear- 
ances. It  was  about  that  time,  that  there  first  began  to  be 
cryings  out  in  the  meetinghouse  ;  which  several  times  occa- 
sioned many  of  the  congregation  to  stay,  in  the  house,  after 
the  public  exercise  was  over,  to  confer  with  those  who  seem- 
ed to  be  overcome  with  religious  convictions  and  affections  ; 
which  was  found  to  tend  much  to  the  propagation  of  their  im- 
pressions with  lasting  effect  upon  many  ;  conference  being  at 
these  times  commonly  joined  with  prayer  and  singing.  In 
the  summer  and  fall,  the  children  in  various  parts  of  the  town 
had  religious  meetings  by  themselves  for  prayer,  sometimes 
joined  with  fasting  ;  wherein  many  of  them  seemed  to  be 
greatly  and  properly  affected,  and  I  hope  some  of  them  sav- 
ingly wrought  upon. 

"  The  months  of  August  and  September  were  the  most 
remarkable  of  any  this  year,  for  appearances  of  conviction 
and  conversion  of  sinners,  and  great  revivings,  quickenings 
and  comforts  of  professors,  and  for  extraordinary  external  ef- 
fects of  these  things.  It  was  a  very  frequent  thing  to  see  a 
house  full  of  outcries,  faintings,  convulsions,  and  such  like, 
both  with  distress,  and  also  with  admiration  and  joy.  It  was 
not  the  manner  here  to  hold  meetings  all  night,  as  in  some 
places,  nor  was  it  common  to  continue  them  till  very  late  in 
the  night  ;  but  it  was  pretty  often  so  that  there  were  some 
that  were  so  affected,  and  their  bodies  so  overcome,  that 
they  could  not  go  home,  but  were  obliged  to  stay  all  night  at 
the  house  where  they  were.  There  was  no  difference  that  I 
know  of  iiere,  with  regard  to  these  extraordinary  effects,  in 
meetings  in  the  night,  and  in  the  day  time ;  the  meetings  in 
which  these  effects  appeared  in  the  evening,  being  common- 
ly begun,  and  their  extraordinary  effects,  in  the  day,  and 
continued  in  the  evening  ;  and  some  meetings  have  been 
very  remarkable  for  such  extraordinary  effects,  that  were  both 
begun  and  finished  in  the  day  time. 

"  There  was  an  appearance  of  a  glorious  progress  of  the 


196  THE  GREAT  AWAKENIiNG. 

work  of  God  upon  the  hearts  of  sinners  in  conviction  and 
conversion,  this  summer  and  fall  ;  and  great  numbers,  I  think 
we  have  reason  to  hope,  were  brought  savingly  home  to 
Christ.  But  this  was  remarkable  ;  the  work  of  God,  in 
his  influences  of  this  nature,  seemed  to  be  almost  wholly  up- 
on a  new  generation  ;  those  that  were  not  come  to  years  of 
discretion  in  that  wonderful  season  nine  years  ago,  or  those 
that  were  then  children.  Others,  that  had  enjoyed  that  for- 
mer glorious  opportunity  without  any  appearance  of  saving 
benefit,  seemed  now  to  be  almost  wholly  passed  over  and  let 
alone.  But  now  we  had  the  most  wonderful  work  among 
children,  that  was  ever  in  Northampton.  The  former  great 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit  was  remarkable  for  influences  upon 
the  minds  of  children,  beyond  all  that  had  ever  been  before  ; 
but  this  far  exceeded  that.  Indeed,  as  to  Influences  on  the 
minds  of  professors,  this  work  was  by  no  means  confined  to 
a  new  generation.  Many  of  all  ages  partook  of  it.  But  yet, 
in  this  respect,  it  was  more  general  on  those  that  were  of  the 
younger  sort.  Many  that  had  formerly  been  wrought  upon, 
that  in  the  times  of  our  declension  had  fallen  into  decays,  and 
had  in  a  great  measure  left  God,  and  gone  after  the  world, 
now  passed  under  a  very  remarkable  new  work  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  as  if  they  had  been  the  subjects  of  a  second  conver- 
sion. They  were  first  led  into  the  wilderness,  and  had  a 
work  of  conviction,  having  much  greater  convictions  of  the 
sin  of  both  nature  and  practice  than  ever  before,  (though 
with  some  new  circumstances,  and  something  new  in  the  kind 
of  conviction,)  in  some  with  great  distress,  beyond  what  they 
had  felt  before  their  first  conversion.  Under  these  convic- 
tions, they  were  excited  to  strive  for  salvation,  and  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  suffered  violence  from  some  of  them  in  a  far 
more  remarkable  manner  than  before.  And  after  great  con- 
victions and  humblings,  and  agonizings  with  God,  they  had 
Christ  discovered  to  them  anew,  as  an  all-sufficient  Saviour, 
and  in  the  glories  of  his  grace,  and  in  a  far  more  clear  man- 
ner than  before  ;  and  with  greater  humility,  self-emptiness, 
and  brokenness  of  heart,  and  a  purer  and  higher  joy,  and 
greater  desires  after  holiness  of  life,  but  with  greater  self- 
diffidence  and  distrust  of  their  treacherous  hearts. 

"  One  circumstance  wherein  this  work  differed  from  that 
which  had  been  in  the  town  five  or  six  years  before,  was, 
that  conversions  were  frequently  wrought  more  sensibly  and 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  197 

visibly  ;  the  impressions  stronger,  and  more  manifest  by  ex- 
ternal effects  of  them  ;  and  the  progress  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  conviction,  from  step  to  step,  more  apparent  ;  and 
the  transition  from  one  state  to  another  more  sensible  and 
plain  ;  so  that  it  might,  in  many  instances,  be,  as  it  were, 
seen  by  bystanders.  The  preceding  season  had  been  very 
remarkable  on  this  account,  beyond  what  had  been  before  ; 
but  this  more  remarkable  than  that.  And  in  this  season, 
these  apparent  or  visible  conversions,  (if  I  may  so  call 
them,)  were  more  frequently  in  the  presence  of  others,  at 
religious  meetings,  where  the  appearances  of  what  was 
wrought  on  the  heart  fell  under  public  observation. 

"  After  September,  1741,  there  seemed  to  be  some  abate- 
ment of  the  extraordinary  appearances  that  had  been  ;  but 
yet  they  did  not  wholly  cease,  but  there  was  something  of 
them  from  time  to  time  all  winter. 

"  About  the  beginning  of  February,  1742,  Mr.  Buel 
came  to  this  town  ;  1  being  then  absent  from  home,  and  con- 
tinued so  till  about  a  fortnight  after.  Mr.  Buel  preached 
from  day  to  day  almost  every  day,  in  the  meetinghouse,  (I 
having  left  to  him  the  free  liberty  of  my  pulpit,  hearing  of 
his  designed  visit  before  T  went  from  home,)  and  spent  al- 
most the  whole  time  in  religious  exercises  with  the  people, 
either  in  public  or  private,  the  people  continually  thronging 
him.  When  he  first  came,  there  came  with  him  a  number 
of  the  zealous  people  from  Suffield,  who  continued  here  for 
some  time.  There  were  very  extraordinary  effects  of  Mr. 
Buel's  labors  ;  the  people  were  exceedingly  moved,  crying 
out  in  great  numbers  in  the  meetinghouse,  and  great  part  of 
the  congregation  commonly  staying  in  the  house  of  God  for 
hours  after  the  public  service,  many  of  them  in  uncommon 
circumstances.  Many  also  were  exceedingly  moved  in  pri- 
vate meetings,  where  Mr.  Buel  was;  and  almost  the  whole 
town  seemed  to  be  in  a  great  and  continual  commotion,  day 
and  night  ;  and  there  was  indeed  a  very  great  revival  of  reli- 
gion. But  it  was  principally  among  professors  ;  the  appear- 
ances of  a  work  of  conversion  were  in  no  measure  equal  to 
what  had  been  the  summer  before.  When  I  came  home,  I 
found  the  town  in  very  extraordinary  circumstances,  such  in 
some  respects  as  I  never  saw  it  in  before.  Mr.  Buel  con- 
tinued here  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  after  I  returned,  there 
being  still  great  appearances  attending  his  labors ;  many  in 
17* 


198  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

their  religious   affections  being   raised  far  beyond  what  they 
ever  had  been  before.      And  there  were   some   instances  of 
persons   lying   in  a  sort   of  trance,   remaining  for  perhaps  a 
whole  twenty-fonr   hours  motionless,    and  with  their    senses 
locked  up  ;  but  in  the  mean  time  under  strong  imaginations, 
as  though  they  went  to  heaven,  and  had  there  a  vision  of  glo- 
rious  and   delightful   objects.      But   when   the   people   were 
•    raised  to  this  height,  Satan  took  the  advantage,  and  his  inter- 
position in  many  instances  soon  became  very  apparent  ;  and 
a  great  deal   of  caution    and   pains  were   found    necessary  to 
keep  the  people,  many  of  them,  from  running  wild.  — 
^      "In  the  beginning  of  the  summer,  1742,  there  seemed  to 
[  be  some  abatement  of  the  liveliness  of  people's  affections  in 
f  religion  ;  but  yet  many  were  often  in  a  great  height  of  them. 
And  in  the  fall  and  winter  following,  there  were  at  times  ex- 
traordinary appearances.     But  in  the   general,   people's   eii- 
gagedness   in   religion   and   the   liveliness   of  their  affections 
have  been  on   the  decline  ;  and   some  of  the  young   people 
especially,  have  shamefully  lost  their  liveliness  and  vigor  in 
religion,  and  much  of  the  seriousness  and  solemnity  of  their 
spirits.     But  there  are  many  that  walk  as  becometh  saints  ; 
and  to  this  day,  there  are  a  considerable  number  in  the  town 
that  seem  to  be  near  to  God,  and  maintain  much  of  the  life 
of  religion,  and  enjoy  many  of  the  sensible  tokens  and  fruits 
of  his  gracious  presence. 

"  With  respect  to  the  late  season  of  revival  of  religion 
amongst  us,  for  three  or  four  years  past  ;  it  has  been  observa- 
ble, that  in  the  former  part  of  it,  in  the  years  1740  and  1741, 
]  the  work  seemed  to  be  much  more  pure,  having  less  of  a 
corrupt  mixture,  than  in  the  former  great  outpouring  of  the 
Spirit  in  1735  and  1736.  Persons  seemed  to  be  sensible  of 
their  former  errors,  and  had  learnt  more  of  their  own  hearts, 
and  experience  had  taught  them  more  of  the  tendency  and 
consequences  of  things.  They  were  now  better  guarded, 
and  their  affections  were  not  only  greater,  but  attended  with 
greater  solemnity,  and  greater  humility  and  self-distrust,  and 
greater  engagedness  after  holy  living  and  perseverance  ;  and 
there  were  fewer  errors  in  conduct.  But  in  the  latter  part 
of  it,  in  the  year  1742,  it  was  otherwise.  The  work  contin- 
ued more  pure  till  we  were  infected  from  abroad  ;  our  people 
hearing,  and  some  of  them  seeing,  the  work  in  other  places, 
where   there  was  a  greater  visible  commotion  than  here,  and 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  199 

the  outward  appearances  were  more  extraordinary,  were 
ready  to  think  that  the  work  in  those  places  far  excehed  what 
was  amongst  us  ;  and  their  eyes  were  dazzled  vvitli  the  high 
profession  and  great  show  that  some  made,  who  came  hither 
from  other  places. 

"  That  those  people  went  so  far  beyond  them  in  raptures 
and  violent  emotions  of  the  affections,  and  a  vehement  zeal, 
and  what  they  called  boldness  for  Christ,  our  people  were 
ready  to  think  was  owing  to  their  far  greater  attainments  in 
grace,  and  intimacy  with  Heaven.  They  looked  little  in 
their  own  eyes,  in  comparison  of  them,  and  were  ready  to 
submit  themselves  to  them,  and  yield  themselves  up  to  their 
conduct,  taking  it  for  granted  that  every  thing  was  right  that 
they  said  and  did.  These  things  had  a  strange  influence  on 
the  people,  and  gave  many  of  them  a  deep  and  unhappy 
tincture,  that  it  was  a  hard  and  long  labor  to  deliver  them 
from,  and  which  some  of  them  are  not  fully  delivered  from 
to  this  day. 

"The  effects  and  consequences  of  things  among  us  plain- 
ly shows  the  following  things,  viz.  That  the  degree  of  grace 
is  by  no  means  to  be  judged  of  by  the  degree  of  joy,  or  the 
degree  of  zeal  ;  and  that,  indeed,  we  cannot  at  all  determine 
by  these  things,  who  are  gracious  and  who  are  not  ;  and  that 
it  is  not  the  degree  of  religious  affections,  but  the  nature  of 
them,  that  is  chiefly  to  be  looked  at.  Some,  that  have  had 
very  great  raptures  of  joy,  and  have  been  extraordinarily 
filled,  as  the  vulgar  phrase  is,  and  have  had  their  bodies 
overcome,  and  that  very  often,  have  manifested  far  less  of 
the  temper  of  Christians,  in  their  conduct  since,  than  some 
others  that  have  been  still,  and  have  made  no  great  outward 
show.  But  then  again,  there  are  many  others  that  have  had 
extraordinary  joys  and  emotions  of  mind,  with  frequent  great 
effects  on  their  bodies,  that  behave  themselves,  steadfastly, 
as  humble,  amiable,  eminent  Christians. 

"  It  is  evident  that  there  may  be  great  religious  affections, 
that  may  in  show  and  appearance  imitate  gracious  affections, 
and  have  the  same  effects  on  their  bodies,  but  are  far  from 
having  the  same  effect  in  the  temper  of  their  minds,  and 
course  of  their  lives.  And  likewise  there  is  nothing  more 
manifest  by  what  appears  amongst  us,  than  that  the  goodness 
of  persons'  state  is  not  chiefly  to  be  judged  by  any  exact- 
ness of  steps,  and  method   of  experiences,  in  what  is  sup- 


200  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

posed  to  be  the  first  conversion  ;  but  that  we  must  judge 
more  by  the  spirit  that  breathes,  the  effect  wrought  on  the 
temper  of  tlie  soul,  in  the  time  of  the  work,  and  remaining 
afterwards.  Though  there  have  been  very  few  instances 
among  professors  amongst  us,  of  what  is  ordinarily  called 
scandalous  sin,  known  to  me  ;  yet  the  temper  that  some  of 
them  show,  and  the  behaviour  they  have  been  of,  together 
with  some  things  in  the  kind  and  circumstances  of  their  ex- 
periences, make  me  much  afraid  lest  there  be  a  considerable 
number  that  have  woefully  deceived  themselves  ;  though,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  is  a  great  number  whose  temper  and 
conversation  is  such  as  justly  confirms  the  charity  of  others 
towards  them  ;  and  not  a  few  in  whose  disposition  and  walk, 
there  are  amiable  appearances  of  eminent  grace.  And  not- 
■  withstanding  all  the  corrupt  mixtures  that  have  been  in  the 
late  work  here,  there  are  not  only  many  blessed  fruits  of  it 
in  particular  persons,  that  yet  remain,  but  some  good  efl^ecls 
of  it  upon  tlie  town  in  general.  A  party  spirit  has  more 
ceased.  I  suppose  there  has  been  less  appearance  these 
three  or  four  years  past,  of  that  division  of  the  town  into 
two  parties,  that  has  long  been  our  bane,  than  has  been  these 
thirty  years  ;  and  the  people  have  apparently  had  much  more 
caution,  and  a  greater  guard  on  their  spirit  and  their  tongues, 
to  avoid  contention  and  unchristian  heats,  in  town  meetings 
and  on  other  occasions.  And  it  is  a  thing  greatly  to  be  re- 
joiced in,  that  the  people  very  lately  have  come  to  an  agree- 
ment and  final  issue,  with  respect  to  their  grand  controversy, 
relating  to  their  common  lands  ;  which  has  been,  above  any 
other  particular  thing,  a  source  of  mutual  prejudices,  jealous- 
ies and  debates,  for  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  past.  The  peo- 
ple are  also  generally,  of  late,  in  some  respects  considerably 
altered  and  meliorated  in  their  notions  of  religion.  Partic- 
ularly, they  seem  to  be  much  more  sensible  of  the  danger  of 
resting  in  old  experiences,  or  what  they  were  subjects  of  at 
their  supposed  first  conversion  ;  and  to  be  more  fully  con- 
vinced of  the  necessity  of  forgetting  the  things  that  are  be- 
hind, and  pressing  forward,  and  maintaining  earnest  labor, 
watchfulness,  and  prayerfulness,  as  long  as  they  live." 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  201 


Appendix  to  Chapter  XII. 

The  two  documents  which  follow,  were  written  by  zealous 
promoters  of  the  revival,  in  the  very  midst  of  its  excitement. 
They  throw  much  light  on  the  events  recorded  in  this  chapter, 
and  on  some  events  yet  to  be  narrated.  The  first  is  from  a 
notice  of  Dr.  Wheelock,  furnished  by  the  Rev.  William  Al- 
len, D.  D.  for  the  American  Quarterly  Register.  The  second 
is  from  a  manuscript,  no  part  of  which  has  ever  been  pub- 
lished. * 

EXTRACTS    FROM    THE    PRIVATE    JOURNAL    OF   THE    REV. 
ELEAZER  WHEELOCK. 

Odoher  21,  1741.  Had  but  little  sleep.  Arose  before  day.  Rode 
with  Mr.  Coit  and  my  friends  to  Voluntown.  Courteously  received 
and  entertained  by  Mr.  Dorrance.  Went  to  meeting-  at  ten.  Heard 
Mr.  Gideon  Mills  preach  well.  Preached  after  him.  There  is  a  great 
work  in  this  town;  but  more  of  the  footsteps  of  Satan  than  in  any 
place  I  have  yet  been  in :  the  zeal  of  some  too  furious  :  they  tell  of 
many  visions,  revelations,  and  many  strong  impressions  upon  the  im- 
agination. They  have  had  much  of  God  in  many  of  their  meetings, 
and  his  great  power  has  been  much  seen,  and  many  hopefully  convert- 
ed. Satan  is  using  many  artful  Aviles  to  put  a  stop  to  the  work  of  God 
in  this  place.  Good  Lord,  let  him  be  confounded.  Let  his  mischiefs 
fall  upon  his  own  head.  At  their  conference  at  night,  I  mentioned 
some  of  these  devices  of  Satan,  which  I  apprehend  they  are  in  dan- 
ger of,  and  heard  the  accounts  of  a  number  of  new  converts. 

22.  Rose  this  morning'  refreshed.  A  pleasant  day  :  found  my  soul 
stretching  after  God.  The  Lord  has  this  day  in  some  measure  ful- 
filled my  early  desires.  Preached  twice  with  enlargement,  by  Mr. 
Smith's  barn,  to  great  assemblies.  Many  cried  out  ;  many  stood 
trembling;  the  whole  assembly  very  solemn,  and  much  affection; 
four  or  five  converted.  One  woman,  who  came  from  Kingston  against 
a  great  deal  of  opposition  on  purpose  to  hear  me,  came  out  clear  and 
went  away  rejoicing  in  God,  longing  to  have  her  husband  and  others 
taste  and  see  with  her. 

23.  Rose  at  three  ;  somewhat  indisposed.  Dear  Lord,  I  commit  my 
body,  my  soul,  my  life,  health,  and  all  to  thee.  Use  me  as  thou  wilt, 
only  let  me  glorify  thee,  and  seek  that  as  my  last  end.  Left  Voluntown 
about  seven,  accompanied  by  a  great  number  of  wounded  and  com- 
forted. Came  to  Mr.  Cooper's  of  Scituate,  in  the  county  of  Providence. 
Preached  to  a  considerable  assembly.  I  am  always  thronged  with 
company,  and  want  time  to  talk  with  the  tenth  part  of  those  who  de- 

*  It  is  to  be  deposited  in  the  library  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Socie- 
ty, at  Worcester,  where  some  parts  of  it  have  alrendy  been  placed.  It 
contains  a  minute  history,  not  only  of  the  author's  pastoral  labors,  but  of 
his  domestic  life,  even  to  the  making  of  a  coat,  the  hanging  of  a  gate,  and 
the  killing  of  a  wolf  in  the  neighbourhood. 


202  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

sire  to  converse  with  me.  Dined,  and  rode  with  a  great  number  of 
Voluntown  people  to  Captain  Angel's.  Preached  there.  The  old  man 
and  woman  violently  opposed  ;  called  me  antichrist,  etc.  Came  about 
eight  to  Mr.  Henry's,  seven  miles  from  Providence. 

24.  Rose  early,  prayed  and  sang.  Discoursed  with  some  wounded  ; 
afterwards  exhorted  a  company,  who  came  in.  Sung  a  hymn,  prayed, 
and  rode  with  a  great  company  of  Voluntown  people  and  others  to 
Providence.  About  two  miles  from  Providence,  met  Mr.  Knight  and 
another  man,  who  came  out  to  meet  us.  His  first  salutation  was,  God 
bless  you,  my  dear  brother.  Went  to  his  house.  Rev.  Mr.  Cotton 
came,  invited  me  to  preach  ;  felt  freedom  and  sweetness  in  my  soul. 

25.  Rode  with  Mr.  Knight  into  town  in  his  calash.  Preached  three 
sermons,  2  Cor.  13:  5;  Mark  1:2;  Luke  10:  ult.  O.  the  dreadful  ig- 
norance and  wickedness  of  these  parts  !  O,  what  a  burthen  dear  Mr. 
Cotton  has  daily  to  bear. 

26.  Rode  with  Mr.  Cotton  back  seven  miles  to  Mr.  Bonnet's : 
preached  at  one  o'clock  to  a  numerous  and  affected  assembly.  One 
converted.  Returned  with  a  great  number  to  Providence.  Preached 
to  a  full  assembly :  many  scoffers  present ;  one  man  hired  for  twenty 
shillings  to  come  into  the  meetinghouse  and  fall  down;  which  he  did, 
and  made  great  disturbance ;  ordered  all  who  had  a  real  concern  for 
the  salvation  of  their  souls,  to  follow  me  to  Mr.  Cotton's,  in  order  to 
have  a  conference  with  them.  A  considerable  number  came,  who 
seemed  considerably  moved. 

27.  Went  with  Mr.  Cotton  and  madam  over  the  ferry  to  Rehobotij, 
upon  Mr.  Greenwood's  invitation;  preached  at  one.  Rode  with  Mr. 
C.  etc.  to  Swansey. 

28.  Brother  Finney  went  to  deacon  Kingsley,  for  liberty  to  preach 

in  the  Baptist  meetinghouse,  but  he  refused  it ;  but  deacon sent 

for  the  key,  and  I  preached  at  one  and  again  in  the  evening.  O,  poor, 
bigoted,  ignorant,  prejudiced  people  ! 

29.  Came  with  Mr.  Cotton  and  many  others  to  Attleborough  :  very 
courteously  received  by  Mr.  Wells.  Heard  Mr.  Turner,  of  Rehoboth  ; 
preached  after  him ;  a  great  deal  of  affection  and  sobbing  through  the 
whole  assembly;  had  great  enlargement.  Exhorted  in  the  evening  at 
Mr.  Wells'.    [Quere,  Weld's.?] 

30.  Had  a  great  sense  of  my  own  badness  and  unworthiness,  of 
what  a  cursed  heart  I  have.  O,  Lord,  let  me  see  and  know  more  of  it. 
Rode  with  Mr.  Wells  and  many  others  to  Norton  ;  kindly  received  by 
Mr.  Avery.  Preached  to  a  full  assembly ;  much  affection  and  sobbing 
through  the  whole  assembly.  Rode  to  Raynham  with  Mr.  Wales 
and  brother  Byram. 

JVovemher  1.  Preached  in  the  forenoon  to  a  full  assembly  ;  one  cried 
out,  many  affected.  Advised  those  who  belonged  to  the  assembly, 
not  to  follow  me  to  Taunton,  but  stay  and  hear  tlieir  own  preacher. 
Went  with  Brother  Byram  to  Taunton;  preached  there.  One  or  two 
cried  out.  Appointed  another  meeting  in  the  evening.  I  believe 
thirty  cried  out.  Almost  all  the  negroes  in  town  wounded;  three  or 
four  converted.  A  great  work  in  the  town.  Dear  brother  Crocker,  a 
true  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  preaches  here  upon  probation.  I  was 
forced  to  break  off  my  sermon  before  it  was  done,  the  outcry  was  so 
great:  continued  the  meeting  till  10  or  11  o'clock. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  203 

2.  Rode  with  Mr.  Crocker  to  the  tavern,  to  see  Capt  Leonard's  ne- 
gro, (a  slave  ;)  found  him  under  a  very  clear  and  genuine  conviction. 
Dear  brother  Rogers  came  to  see  me  here.  Rode  with  a  great  num- 
ber to  Bridgewater.  Preached  to  a  full  assembly  in  Mr.  Shaw's  meet- 
inghouse. 

3.  Rode  with  a  great  number  to  Mr.  Perkins'  meetinghouse  ;  a  very 
full  assembly.  After  sermon,  the  lecture  was  appointed  at  Mr.  An- 
ger's ;  but  so  many  wounded  that  I  could  not  leave  them.  Therefore 
preached  again  to  a  full  assembly.  A  great  outcry  :  four  or  five  con- 
verted. 

4.  Rode  to  Mr.  Porter's.  A  great  multitude.  Preached  upon  a 
stage.  One  converted  in  sermon.  After  dinner,  rode  with  Mr.  Bel- 
cher, and  a  great  multitude,  to  Easton.  Brother  Rogers  preached, 
A  very  great  outcry  in  the  assembly.  I  preached  after  him.  Four  or 
five  converted. 

5.  Came  to  Mr.  Niles',  of  Braintree.  Preached  with  great  freedom. 
Present,  Messrs.  Eells  and  Hancock  ;  Mr.  Worcester  came  in  the 
evening. 

6.  Set  out  for  Boston.  Met  by  dear  Mr.  Prince  and  Mr.  Bromfield 
about  eight  miles  from  Boston.  Came  in  to  Mr.  Bromfield's.  Soon 
after  my  arrival,  came  the  Hon.  .Tosiah  Willard,  Secretary,  Rev.  Mr. 
Webb  and  Mr.  Cooper,  and  Major  Sewall,  to  bid  me  welcome  to  Bos- 
ton. At  six  o'clock,  rode  with  Mr.  Bromfield  in  his  chaise  to  the  north 
end  of  the  town,  and  preached  for  Mr.  Webb  to  a  great  assembly. 
After  sermon,  returned  to  dear  Mr  Webb's;  pleased  with  the  conver- 
sation of  dear  Mr.  Gee. 

8.  Went  to  Dr.  Coleman's  meeting ;  preached  with  considerable 
freedom.  Dined  with  the  Dr.  Went  with  Mr.  Rogers  to  Mr.  Prince's. 
Preached  to  a  full  assembly.  After  meeting,  was  followed  by  a 
great  throng  of  children,  who  importunately  desired  me  to  give  them 
a  word  of  exhortation  in  a  private  house,  which  J  consented  to  do, 
though  I  designed  to  go  and  hear  Mr.  Prince,  who,  being  by,  desired 
that  I  would  have  it  publicly,  which  I  consented  to. 

9.  Visited  this  morning  by  a  great  number  of  persons  under  soul 
trouble.  Refused  to  preach,  because  I  designed  to  go  out  of  town. 
Just  as  I  was  going,  came  Mr  Webb,  and  told  mo  the  people  were 
meeting  together  to  hear  another  sermon.  I  consented  to  preach 
again.  A  scholar  from  Cambridge  being  present,  who  came  to  get 
me  to  go  to  Cambridge,  hastened  to  Cambridge,  and,  by  a  little  after 
six,  a  great  part  of  the  scholars  had  got  to  Boston.  Preached  to  a 
very  thronged  assembly,  many  more  than  could  get  into  the  house, 
with  very  great  freedom  and  enlargement.  I  believe  the  children  of 
God  were  very  much  refreshed.  They  told  me  afterwards,  they  be- 
lieved that  Mather  Byles  was  never  so  lashed  in  his  life.  This  morn- 
ing, Mr.  Cooper  came  to  me,  in  the  name  of  the  Hon.  Jacob  Wendell, 
Esq.,  and  earnestly  desired  a  copy  of  my  sermon,  preached  in  the 
forenoon  of  tiie  Lord's  day,  for  the  press.  O,  that  God  would  make 
and  keep  me  humble. 


204  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  PRIVATE    JOURNAL  OF  THE  REV.  EBENE- 
ZER  PARKMAN,  OF  WESTBOROUGH,  MASS. 

January  7,  1742.  Cold  day;  but  I  rode  over  to  the  private  meeting  at 
deacon  Forbush's,  and  preached  on  John  3;  36;  after  which  I  had  a 
brief  exercise  of  prayer  and  exhortation  to  the  society  of  young  wo- 
men. It  is  agreeable  to  see  how  readily  and  gladly  many  receive  the 
word. 

2G.  Catechetical  exercise  to  young  women. 

28.  There  being  at  Leicester  very  considerable  awakenings  among 
some  of  the  people,  they  set  apart  this  day  for  fasting  and  prayer,  for 
obtaining  a  plentiful  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  them  ;  and  they 
having  sent  for  me  to  assist  on  that  occasion,  I  went  up.  Mr.  Ed- 
wards, of  Northampton,  was  there,  and  preached  a  very  awakening 
sermon  on  Rom.  9 :  22  —  "  Vessels  of  wrath."  I  preached  in  the  af- 
ternoon on  Zech.  12:  10.  In  the  evening,  Mr.  Hall  preached  on  Isa. 
54  :  13.     N.  B.    Some  stirrings. 

29.  Mr.  Edwards  preached  on  John  12 :  23,  a  peculiarly  moving  and 
useful  sermon.  May  God  bless  it  to  me,  to  draw  my  heart  effectually 
to  Jesus  Christ,  by  his  love,  by  his  bitter  and  ignominous  sufferings  on 
the  cross  for  me  !  I  prevailed^  on  Mr.  Edwards,  before  we  went  out 
of  the  pulpit,  to  come  by  divine  leave  next  Aveek  to  Westborough. 

31.  I  cannot  help  remarking  what  a  wonderful  time  was  now  ap- 
pearing; for  there  are  great  movings  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people  of 
the  country,  in  one  part  thereof  and  another.  O !  tliat  I  and  mine 
might  be  stirred  up  earnestly  and  seasonably  to  put  in  for  a  share ! 
The  Lord  grant  us  this  mercy,  and  let  us  not  be  left  behind! 

February  1.  It  was  a  rainy  day,  but  I  rode  to  Grafton  and  Sutton. 
Mr.  Edwards  was  come  from  Leicester.  Mr.  Edwards  preached  to  a 
large  assembly  on  Ps.  18 :  25.  At  evening,  in  a  very  rainy,  stormy 
time,  I  preached  to  a  considerable  assembly  on  Ps.  68 :  8.  Religion 
has  of  late  been  very  much  revived  in  Sutton,  and  there  is  a  general 
concern  about  their  souls. 

2.  A  rainy  morning.  Mr.  Edwards  put  on  resolution  and  came  with 
me  to  Westborough.  Mr.  Edwards  preached  to  a  great  congregation 
on  John  12:32,  and  at  eve  at  my  house  on  Gen.  19:  17.  N.  B.  Mr. 
James  Fay  was  greatly  wrought  on  by  the  sermon  on  John  12:32. 
So  were  Samuel  Allen  and  Ezekiel  Dodge,  who  manifested  it  to  me ; 
and  doubtless  multitudes  besides  were  so.     Deo  Opt.  Max.  Gloria. 

6.  Mr.  James  Fay,  who  thinks  he  sees  things  in  a  new  light,  and 
that  he  is  now  converted,  was  here  to  see  me  and  discourse  with  me. 

9.  Mr.  James  Fay  came  for  me  to  go  and  see  Isaiah  Pratt,  who  lay 
in  a  strange  condition  at  his  house,  not  having  spoke  nor  been  sensi- 
ble since  nine  o'clock  last  night.  I  went  to  him,  and  seeing  him  lie  so 
insensible,  and  his  pulse  exceeding  sloiv,  I  advised  them  to  send  for  Dr. 
Gott,  to  bleed  him;  but  sitting  by  him  and  rousing  him,  by  degrees  he 
came  to.  Many  were  present,  and  were  astonished.  When  he  re- 
gained his  senses,  he  said  he  had  not  been  asleep,  had  seen  hell,  and 
seen  Christ;  and  said  Christ  told  him  his  name  was  in  the  book  of  life, 
&c.  When  he  had  taken  some  slender  food,  he  yet  further  revived, 
and  spake  more  freely.     We  gave  tlianks   and   prayed,  and   I   gave 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  205 

some  exhortation.  N.  B.  One  of  the  deacons  of  the  church  was  there, 
who  took  me  aside  to  lament  to  me  his  dullness  and  backwardness  in 
the  things  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  These  things  are  now  (blessed  be 
(iod)  more  frequent,  which  heretofore  were  very  rare.  May  God  in- 
crease them,  and  furnish  me  abundantly  for  his  work,  in  every  part  of  it! 

10.  By  agreement  with  Mr.  Gushing,  this  day  was  kept  in  a  religious 
manner  at  my  house,  as  a  time  of  humiliation  and  supplication,  but  as 
privately  as  we  could.  And  I  sent  a  letter  last  week  to  the  neighbour- 
ing ministers  to  join  with  us,  in  that  we  might  unitedly  implore  divine 
direction  in  such  an  extraordinary  day  as  this  is,  and  that  we  might 
obtain  the  outpouring  of  God's  Spirit  upon  us  and  our  respective 
charges ;  but  none  came  but  Mr.  Gushing. 

1 1.  Mrs.  Pratt  with  her  son  were  here  according  to  my  appointment, 
to  acquaint  me  furtiier  with  what  iie  had  seen,  or  apprehended  lie  saw, 
in  the  time  of  his  trance  or  reverie  the  other  night.  He  having  in- 
formed me  of  his  seeing  (as  he  thought)  the  devil,  who  met  him  as  he 
seemed  to  be  in  the  way  towards  heaven,  and  told  him  that  there  was 
no  room  for  him  there ;  of  his  seeing  hell,  and  hearing  the  most  dread- 
ful noise  of  roaring  and  crying ;  his  seeing  heaven,  so  wondrously 
happy  a  place  as  nobody  could  tell  but  those  that  were  there ;  and 
Ghrist,  who  looked  more  pleasant  than  ever  he  had  seen  any  man, 
and  who  had  a  great  book  before  him,  and  in  turning  over  the  leaves 
of  it,  told  him  that  his  name  was  there,  and  showed  it  him  ;  and  that 
he  had  seen  a  great  many  more  things,  which  were  such  great  things 
that  he  could  not  speak  of  them  ;  —  I  told  him  that  these  things  were 
not  to  be  depended  upon,  but  that  the  apostle  Peter  has  cautioned  us, 
saying,  that  we  have  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy,  to  which  we 
should  do  well  to  take  heed,  &c.  [  endeavoured  further  to  instruct,  di- 
rect, and  comfort  him,  and  lay  the  charges  of  God  upon  him.  P.  M. 
I  preached  at  Mr.  James  Pay's,  on  Luke  19:  9,  to  a  great  multitude, 
and  it  pleased  God  to  give  it  some  success.  As  soon  as  the  exercise 
was  over.  Deacon  Fay  broke  forth  with  a  loud  voice,  with  tears  of  joy, 
and  blessed  God  that  he  saw  this  day,  &.C.;  desiring  that  I  would  in 
due  time  have  an  exercise  at  his  house ;  and  bore  a  message  from  hia 
brother,  old  Mr.  Samuel  Fay,  that  I  would  have  one  at  his  also, — 
which  it  was  a  cheerful  thing  to  hear,  considering  his  temper  and  con- 
duct for  some  years  past.  The  rest  of  the  people  seemed  so  inclined 
to  religious  matters,  that  they  did  not  freely  go  away.  Many  tarried 
to  discourse  of  the  affairs  of  their  souls,  and  hear  of  the  experiences 
of  one  another. 

12.  At  eve.  Mr.  Stephen  Fay  was  here  in  great  distress  concerning 
his  spiritual  state,  fearing  that  all  he  had  done  in  religion  was  only  to 
still  conscience.  I  directed  him  to  read  what  was  most  awakening 
still,  and  most  searching ;  and  particularly  Mr.  Alliene's  Alarm  and 
Mead's  Almost  Ghristian. 

March  9.  N.  B.  Mr.  Pattershall  informs  me  of  Mr.  Groswell's  ir- 
regular zeal  at  Charlestown. 

1 1.  Fast  in  this  place,  on  account  of  the  extraordinary  dispensations 
of  God's  grace  in  the  land ;  that  we  might  on  the  one  hand  implore 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  divine  direction,  that  we  be  not  carried 
away  by  the  many  snares,  temptations,  and  delusions  to  which  we  are 
greatly  exposed. 

18 


206  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

15.  Very  cold  day.  Yet  I  rode  to  Mr.  Charles  Rice's,  and  preached 
to  the  society  of  young  women  on  Ps.  119:  59. 

20.  Rainy.  Mr.  Buel  and  three  young  men  with  him  here.  1  found 
him  willing  to  submit  to  any  examinations  concerning  his  doctrines, 
or  opinions,  or  life  ;  whereupon  I  made  several  inquiries,  to  which  he 
made  ready  answers,  and  told  me  he  had  made  up  with  Mr.  Noyes  at 
New  Haven  above  a  month  after  commencement,  and  was  examined 
and  licensed  by  the  ministers  of  that  association  to  preach.  I  urged 
him  to  preach  ;  but  he  said  he  was  under  such  obligations  to  preach  at 
Concord,  that  he  must  proceed  thither. 

21.  On  2  Cor.  6:  2.  —  I  hope  there  was  some  good  success  of  the 
word  to-day,  through  the  blessing  of  God.  O  may  it  prove  an  accept- 
ed time  and  a  day  of  salvation  to  us  all  ! 

22.  Catechised  boys  A.  M.  at  tho  meetinghouse.  P.  M.  Girls  at 
my  own  house. 

23.  P.  M.  Catechetical  exercise  with  the  young  women.  I  preach- 
ed on  John  13:  17.  At  Ensign  Maynard's  at  evening,  to  remove  his 
stumbling  at  my  slippers. 

27.  N.  B.  Mr.  James  Fay  and  Mr,  Francis  Whipple  here.  P.  M. 
A  great  deal  of  discourse  about  the  assurance  of  every  new  convert. 

29.  N.  B.  The  world  full  of  Mr.  Buel's  preaching  at  Concord.  In 
the  judgment  of  some,  great  success  ;  in  the  judgment  of  others,  great 
confusion. 

30.  I  proceeded  to  Cambridge.  —  Visited  Mr.  Appleton.  N.  B.  Va- 
rious accounts  from  Ipswich,  of  the  state  of  religion  there.  The  peo- 
ple are  greatly  enlivened  and  awakened  there.  At  evening  I  was 
at  Charlestown.  Mr.  Buel  preached  on  Gen.  6:3.  N.  B.  Mr.  Cros- 
well  lies  sick  at  Charlestown,  after  zealous  preaching  there  for  some 
time. 

.^pril  1.  Mr.  Hooper  at  the  public  lecture,  on  1  John  4:  13.  N.  B. 
Great  disgust  given  by  Mr.  Barnard's  sermon  last  Thursday,  and  now 
continued  among  some  by  Mr.  Hooper;  as  appeared  to  me  at  evening 
at  Mr.  Cooper's. 

9.  Mr.  Beriah  Rice  here  to  join  the  church.  Neighbour  Thurston 
here  at  evening.  N.  B.  His  experience  of  extraordinary  grace,  the 
months  past.     His  discourse  very  savory  and  very  free. 

10.  Mr.  Williams  here  P.  M.  to  join  the  church. 

13.  [He  went  with  his  daughter  to  Cambridge.] 

14.  Rainy  ;  but  yet  Molly  and  I  rode  to  Boston,  and  were  at  the  or- 
dination of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Andrew  Eliot,  at  the  New  North  Church. 
Dr.  Sewall  prayed,  Mr.  Eliot  preached  1  Cor.  4:2,  Mr.  Webb  the 
charge,  Mr.  Appleton  the  right  hand.  N.  B.  A  vast  assembly,  and  a 
glorious  time  of  God's  grace. 

15.  [He  returned  home  with  Sarah  Sparhawk,  of  whom  more  here- 
after.] 

20.  Catechetical  exercise  No.  5,  at  the  meetinghouse.  Above 
thirty  young  women,  I  suppose,  were  present.  N.  B.  Mary  Bradish 
with  me  afterwards,  being  in  some  spiritual  difficulties. 

21.  Mr.  Samuel  Williams  here  about  his  spiritual  state,  and  desirous 
to  join  the  church.  I  took  pains  in  examining  him,  and  hope  God  is 
doing  a  good  work  in  him. 

22.  I  had  sent  to  Mr.  Stone  and  to  Mr.  Cashing,  fruitlessly,  to  as- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  207 

sist  me.  I  sent  a  verba]  message  to  Mr.  Burr,  and,  though  it  was 
a  rainj'  day,  he  came  and  preached  my  lecture  ;  a  good,  useful  ser- 
mon on  Rom.  10:  part  of  the  14th  and  15th  verses,  and  the  17th,  against 
exhorters  among  the  people,  &c.,  with  a  moving  application. 

25.  Administered  the  Lord's  Supper.  Repeated  on  2  Cor.  11  :  27, 
29.  P.  M.  on  Eph.  5:  14.  I  was  in  much  fear  and  trembling,  but  cast 
myself  on  God.  I  chose  to  repeat  in  the  forenoon,  that  I  might  deliv- 
er the  latter  part  of  that  discourse,  and  likewise  that  1  might  deliver 
my  sermon  in  the  afternoon  more  entirely  by  itself,  it  not  admitting  to 
be  divided,  but  it  being  the  quantity  of  two  sermons.  I  was  much 
above  an  hour.  Some  number  of  Southborough  people  at  meeting, 
and  some  of  Hopkinton. 

26.  [Went  to  Rutland,  to  attend  a  council  and  fast.] 

30.  Mr.  Grow  here  in  spiritual  distress,  and  Mr.  Jesse  Brigham's 
wife. 

May  1.  Stephen  Fay  here  upon  soul  accounts. 

2.  On  Eph.  5:  14.  Mrs.  Bathsheba  Pratt  here,  being  greatly  dis- 
tressed for  the  hardness  of  her  heart,  notwithstanding  that  she  had 
been  a  member  in  full  communion  above  twenty  years. 

6.  Mr.  Paterson,  an  Irishman  from  Stoddardtown,  here.  N.  B. 
He  had  been  one  of  those  that  had  fallen  into  a  stange  fit  by  the  pres- 
sure of  his  distress  at  hearing  the  word  preached.  P.  M.  I  preached 
at  Capt.  Fay's,  on  Epli.  5:  14,  sermon  II.  —  N.  B.  1  repeated  that  ser- 
mon, because  of  divers  people  being  at  a  great  loss  about  the  doctrine 
held  forth  therein. 

7.  Mary  Bradish  with  me  on  account  of  her  spiritual  troubles. 
Cousin  Winchester  also. 

11.  Mr.  Bliss  here,  on  his  journey  to  Grafton  and  Sutton.  I  rode 
Mr.  Benjamin  How's  horse  to  Shrewsbury,  and  preached  to  the  society 
of  lads  there,  on  2  Cor.  6 :  2. 

13.  I  rode  Mr.  Burns's  horse  to  Marlborough,  and  preached  the  lec- 
ture on  Eph.  5:  14. 

14.  Mr.  [or  Mrs.]  Williams  here  again,  —  Sarah  Bellows,  —  Daniel 
Stone  and  his  wife, —  all  of  them  candidates  for  the  communion. 

17.  Phineas  Forbush  with  me  upon  his  soul  distresses.  N.  B. 
News  from  Grafton,  that  Mr.  Philemon  Bobbins  preached  there  yes- 
terday, and  twenty  or  more  persons  fell  down  with  distress  and  an- 
guish. 

18.  Exercise  to  young  women  on  Ps.  73  :  24.  —  Mrs.  Edwards  from 
Northampton,  and  Searl,  a  Freshman  of  New  Haven  College,  here, 
and  lodged  here. 

19.  Sweet  converse  with  Mrs.  Edwards,  a  very  eminent  Christian. 
At  half  aftf^r  eleven  I  left  home  and  rode  to  Sutton  Falls.  Preached 
there  on  Eph.  5:  14.  After  meeting,  an  elderly  woman,  one 'Mrs. 
White,  whose  husband  is  a  Baptist,  so  overcome  that  she  was  led  into 
Mr  Hall's.  She  seemed  to  be  in  great  distress,  but  she  had  much  joy 
and  love. 

21.  My  wife  rode  with  me  to  Stephen  Fay's,  where  I  preached  on 
Mat.  3:  10.  The  assembly  somewhat  considerable,  being  there  was  a 
town  meeting  at  the  same  time  to  choose  a  representative.  Ensign 
Maynard  chosen,  but  refused.  Town  then  concluded  not  to  send.  I 
had  a  great  cold. 


208  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

23. — At  eve,  called  at  Ensi<rn  Maynard's,  to  visit  Mrs.  Wheeler  of 
Concord,  (heretofore  Rebecca  Lee,)  who  was  under  a  grievous  melan- 
choly and  mingled  despair  and  distraction. 

[25.  Rode  to  Boston.] 

2G. — Mr.  Appleton  preached  excellently  to  the  Court,  from  Ps.  72 : 
1,  2.  P.  M.  When  I  went  to  Dr.  Sewall's,  there  was  but  a  thin  ap- 
pearance of  ministers;  upon  which  I  heard  Mr.  John  Caldwell,  at  the 
French  meetinghouse.  The  drift  was  against  false  prophets,  and  not 
without  bitterness,  mixed  with  his  wit  and  sense.  1  sat  very  uneasy, 
and  went  out  as  soon  as  it  was  done.  Went  up  to  Mr.  Chauncy's,  the 
convention  being  adjourned.  Some  number  of  ministers  there,  con- 
gratulating him  upon  his  being  made  Doctor  of  Divinity  by  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh.  Our  conversation  was  upon  assurance  ;  the 
ground  of  it,  the  manner  of  obtaining  it,  and  the  special  operation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  therein.  A  very  useful  conversation  ;  Mr.  Barnard 
and  others  having  talked  very  judiciously  and  piously  upon  it.  Sought 
Mrs.  Edwards  fruitlessly. 

27.  Mr.  Loring  preached  to  the  ministers  from  2  Cor.  2 :  16,  last 
clause.  The  contribution,  I  understand,  amounted  to  £230. —  P.  M. 
I  went  to  Dr.  Chauncy's,  where  was  a  very  considerable  number  of 
ministers  in  conversation  upon  the  present  state  of  things  with  respect 
to  religion. 

28.  [Returned  home.] 

29.  Mrs.  Edwards,  and  young  Searl  with  her,  in  her  journey  to 
Northampton. 

30.  On  Song,  2:  16.  N.  B.  Mrs.  Edwards'  conversation  very  won- 
derful,—  her  sense  of  divine  things. 

31.  I  rode  with  Mrs.  Edwards  to  Shrewsbury,  but  could  not  pro- 
ceed to  Worcester,  as  1  had  purposed. 

June  8.  Mr.  Wheeler  at  evening,  opposing  my  late  doctrine  from 
Eph.  5:  14,  —  that  the  natural  man  can  do  nothing  but  what  is  sinful. 

15.  Much  interrupted  in  the  morning  with  Mr.  Joseph  Wheeler,  who 
takes  exceptions  against  the  doctrines  I  deliver  one  Sabbath  after  an- 
other. I  rode  to  Mr.  Loring's  of  Sudbury,  where  the  association  met. 
There  were  Mr.  J.  Prentice,  Mr.  Cushing,  Mr.  N.  Stone,  and  Mr, 
Buckminster.  Mr.  Buckminster  offered  himself  to  be  examined. 
He  was  so,  and  he  delivered  a  sermon  on  Luke  10:  41,  42,  At  eve, 
I  asked  advice  respecting  the  doctrine  I  had  lately  delivered  from  Eph, 
Ti  :  14,  and  Rom.  8  :  8,  and  on  that  question,  — "  Are  there  not  some 
promises  made  to  humble,  fervent  strivers,  that  they  shall  obtain  the 
grace  of  God?"  —  N.  B.  Council  at  Concord,  called  by  Ezekiel  Miles 
and  others,  dissatisfied  with  Mr.  Bliss. 

16.  Very  useful  and  profitable  conversations  upon  several  heads  of 
divinity,  especially  referring  to  the  great  article  of  conversion.  Com- 
paring several  of  Mr.  Stoddard's  writings.  J  also  read  a  large  paper 
of  the  experiences  of  a  young  woman,  a  member  of  the  church  in 
VVestborough,  which  I  had  from  her  own  Mss. 

20.  I  preached  at  Shrewsbury,  A.  M.  and  P.  M.  on  Eph.  5:  14. 

22.  My  sixth  exposition  of  the  catechism,  to  thirty-eight  young  wo- 
men. N.  B.  Elizabeth  Chamberlain  and  Mr.  Joseph  Green,  upon  soul 
affairs. 

24.  I  rode  over  to  the  north  of  Shrewsbury,  and  preached  to  a  young 
society  there  on  1  Thess.  1 :  10. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  209 

28.  I  rode  over  to  Hopkinton,  at  the  request  of  Isaac  How,  who  lay 
in  a  low  languishment.  His  state  of  mind  I  feared  to  be  very  dreadful, 
because  of  his  insensibility  of  the  amazing  wrath  of  God,  and  being 
so  comfortable  in  the  apprehensions  of  death,  notwithstanding  his  im- 
penitence. Many  had  expected  me  to  preach;  but  I  received  no  hint 
of  his  desiring  any  thing  of  that ;  besides,  that  there  was  no  intima- 
tions from  Rev.  Mr.  Barrett  especially,  of  any  thing  of  it. 

29.  Mrs.  Snell  was  with  me  about  her  owning  the  covenant;  as  was 
also  Mr.  Jonathan  Brigham  and  his  wife. 

30.  [Received  a  request  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barrett  and  Isaac  How, 
to  preach  to  How  to-morrow.] 

July  1.  I  rode  over  to  Hopkinton,  and  Isaac  How  being  yet  alive 
and  an  assembly  gathered,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Josiah  Rice,  I  preached 
there  on  1  Tim.  1 :  15  ;  followed  with  a  moving  and  awakening  ad- 
dress to  the  poor  dying  man,  who  seemed  to  take  it  in  some  suitable 
manner,  to  outward  appearance  ;  but  I  fear  he  has  not  really  an  ap- 
prehension of  his  astonishing  danger,  but  is  in  a  false  peace.  The 
assembly  were  very  attentive,  and  some  number  affected. 

G.  Rode  to  Charlestown  ;  made  a  visit  to  Mr.  Davenport,  who  kept 
at  Major  Jenner's 

8.  I  rode  to  Boston.  Mr.  Hooper's  public  lecture  on  1  John,  5:. 3. 
P.  M.  I  was  at  Dr.  Chauncy's,  where  was  Mr.  Barnard  of  Marble- 
head  and  his  lady.  Afterwards  came  Mr.  Hooper,  and  Mr.  Malcolm, 
Episcopal  minister  of  Marblehead.  The  conversation  turned  upon 
Mr  Davenport,  who  is  the  subject  everywhere.  But  few  among  the 
wise  and  worthy,  but  judge  he  is  touched  in  his  brain.  Mr.  Malcolm 
and  I  walked  down  to  the  North  End,  and  up  Snow  Hill,  to  hear  him. 
There  had  been  a  thunderstorm,  and  there  were  little  showers  in 
time  of  exercise.  The  sermon  was  from  Rev.  22  :  17;  a  very  fervent 
exhortation,  and  to  unconverted  ministers  in  special.  Said  he  was 
then  in  the  experience  of  the  Divine  Spirit's  influences.  Said  he  was 
then  ready  to  drop  down  dead  for  the  salvation  of  but  one  soul,  &c. 
After  sermon,  a  considerable  number  of  ministers  went  to  Mr.  Webb's, 
who  gave  us  an  account  of  the  disorders  in  that  neighbourhood  last 
night,  by  people's  being  so  late  at  Mr.  Procter's  ;  (where  Mr.  Daven- 
port lodges,  and  which  is  right  over  against  Mr.  Webb's;)  and  he  also 
informed  us  of  his  discourse  with  Mr.  Davenport  this  morning,  con- 
cerning his  conduct  and  actions,  (in  running  out  into  the  street  among 
the  crowd,  and  crying  out  to  them  in  an  indecent  voice,  gesture  &c.,) 
but  to  no  purpose,  he  supposing  himself  to  be  under  the  immediate 
impressions  and  directions  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  In  a  word,  Mr.  Webb 
concludes  him  to  be  crazed. 

9.  [Returned  home.  —  From  about  this  time,  the  "throat  distemper" 
prevailed,  and  was  often  fatal.] 

2.'}.  Mr.  Jacob  Amsden's  wife  came  to  meeting,  who  has  never  been 
at  the  public  worship  till  now,  ever  since  I  was  first  in  this  town. 

August  10.  [He  was  called  to  Cambridge  and  Boston  by  his  moth- 
er's sickness.] 

19.  The  great  disturbance  last  night,  by  means  of  Mr.  Davenport's 
condemning  the  ministers  of  Boston  as  unconverted ;  and  Dr.  Col- 
man,  Dr.  Sewall,  and  Dr.  Chauncy,  by  name. 

20.  Mr.  Davenport  condemned  by  name  nine  more  of  the  ministers. 

18* 


210  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Grand  Jury,  I  hear,  have  sat,  and  have  found  a  bill  against  him  as  a  dis- 
turber of  the  peace. 

24.  The  association  met  at  my  house. 

25.  N.  B.  The  account  Mr.  Weld  gave  of  the  remarkable  work  of 
God  among  them  [at  Attleborough]. 

30.  Air.  Nathaniel  Smith  of  Hopkinton  here,  for  advice  respecting 
his  son  Nathaniel,  who  was  so  oppressed  and  overcome  with  the  af- 
fairs of  his  soul  and  another  world,  that  he  would  not  attend  to  the 
necessary  supports  of  life. 

September  10.  N.  B.  Mr.  Davenport  at  Capt.  Fay's,  going  upwards. 

12.  On  I  Thess.  5:  19.  The  congregation  much  moved.  At  noon, 
Molly  Gurfield  of  Shrewsbury  greatly  distressed,  being  awakened  by 
the  forenoon  sermon,  earnestly  desired  prayers  P.  M.  for  her. 

13.  N.  B.  Mr.  Daniel  Rogers  of  Ipswich,  Dr.  Gott,  and  Mr.  Dodge 
came  and  dined  with  us.  Mr.  Rogers  had  preached  three  times  at 
Marlborough. 

18.  Mr.  Parsons  of  Lyme  made  me  a  kind  visit,  and  I  persuaded  him 
to  stay  and  keep  Sabbath  here. 

19.  I  preached  at  Marlborough.  I  rode  up  home  at  eve.  Found 
Mr.  Parsons  preaching  with  great  fervency  to  young  people,  on  the 
gathering  manna  in  the  morning.  It  made  great  impression.  But  the 
most  remarkable  signs  were  immediately  after  the  blessing  was  pro- 
nounced. Mr.  Stephen  Fay's  wife  cried  out,  and  cousin  Winchester 
presently  upon  it,  both  of  whom  strove  what  they  could  to  contain 
themselves,  but  burst  forth  with  great  agony  of  soul.  Sarah  Shat- 
tuck  and  Betsey  Fay  discovered  also  their  inward  distress.  But  Sa- 
rah Sparhawk  was  unbounded,  and  like  one  deprived  of  her  reason. 
A  great  tumult  ensued.  Mr.  Parsons  advised  me  to  compose  them, 
and  either  pray  or  sing  a  psalm.  I  requested  him  to  direct  to  a  psalm. 
After  singing,  I  spoke  strongly  to  the  people,  advising  and  beseeching 
them  to  retire  to  private  meditation  and  prayer;  and  it  had  success. 
Sarah  Sparhawk  was  brought  away  home  by  some  young  men.  A 
number  of  the  distressed  and  others  came  to  my  house,  but  went 
home  about  nine  o'clock.  Sarah  Sparhawk  was  however  often  crying 
out,  and  striving  much  in  her  fits  for  an  hour  or  two;  —  then  went  to 
bed  and  slept  well. 

20.  Mr.  Parsons  took  leave.  Sarah  Shattuck  and  Betty  Chamber- 
lain here  to  take  advice  upon  their  spiritual  concerns,  and  Sarah  Bel- 
lows was  very  helpful  in  family  business,  instead  of  Sarah  Sparhawk, 
who  was  still  feeble  and  pensive,  and  could  do  little. 

21.  P.  M.  I  preached  to  a  number  that  gathered  together  and  re- 
quested it,  but  no  public  notice  had  been  given.  I  repeated,  as  I  was 
desired,  my  last  sermon  on  1  Thess.  5:  19.  N.  B.  Sarah  Sparhawk 
cried  out  again,  and  was  in  mucli  distress. 

30.  My  wife  rode  with  me  to  Hopkinton.  Mr.  Moody  of  York  was 
to  preach  A.  M.,  but  at  11  o'clock  Mr.  Barrett  with  a  message  and  the 
Bible  to  me,  that  I  must  preach.  Mr.  Barrett  prayed  before  sermon. 
I  preached  on  Eph.  5:  14.  P.  M.  Mr.  Stone  prayed,  and  Mr.  Moody 
preached  on  Prov.  1 :  23.  At  evening  Mr.  Barrett  was  requested  to 
suffer  Mr.  Bliss  to  preach  an  evening  lecture  ;  but  he  would  not  allow 
of  its  being  publicly  in  tlie  meetinghouse.  He  gave  way  to  its  being 
at  a  private  house. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  211 

October  4.  Stephen  Fay  here,  in  various  religious  disquietments. 
His  brother  James  here  at  evening  ;  and  while  some  young  women, 
Sarah  Shattuck,  Mary  Graves,  and  Sarah  Bellows,  were  receiving  in- 
structions from  me  in  singing,  Mr.  Fay  was  in  much  spiritual  commo- 
tion ;  but  while  we  were  singing  the  63d  psalm,  he  was  in  a  peculiar 
manner  rapt  in  spiritual  delight,  and  panted  with  the  overbearing  joy 
and  admiration  of  the  divine  greatness  and  condescension  to  us,  and 
his  patience  towards  us ;  and  his  expressions  of  these  things  were 
very  becoming  and  noticeable. 

13    [Went  to  Boston  and  Cambridge.] 

15.  At  Deacon  Sparhawk's,  to  discourse  with  them  concerning  Sa- 
rah, and  apprized  them  of  my  unwillingness  to  keep  her.  I  returned 
home. 

20.  Mr.  Hall  preached  a  moving  sermon  on  John  5:  40.  No  crying 
out  in  the  meetinghouse ;  but,  as  1  was  going  home  from  the  meeting- 
house, Mrs.  Ruth  Fay,  in  anguish  of  spirit,  burst  out  and  went  into  my 
house.  I  took  her  into  my  study,  and  gave  her  what  instructions  I 
could.  In  the  mean  time  Sarah  Sparhawk  was  crying  and  screaming 
upon  her  bed  in  another  part  of  the  house.  Many  people  were  in  the 
house  below.  Mr.  Edwards  of  Northampton  was  come,  and  both  he 
and  Mr.  Hall  assisted  me  in  ministering  to  these  distressed  souls,  and 
others  that  needed.     It  was  an  evening:  of  great  engagement. 

21.  Mr.  Hall  and  Mr.  Edwards  went,  the  one  to  Sutton  and  the  oth- 
er to  Boston. 

23.  N.  B.  I  have  understood  there  are  various  commotions  on  reli- 
gious accounts  among  brethren  on  the  south  side  of  the  town. 

56.  Mr.  Secomb  went  with  me  to  the  Association  at  Marlborough. 
A  considerable  number  of  ministers  and  candidates.  The  conversa- 
tion turned  mostly  of  all  upon  the  times.  Mr.  Marsh  of  Wachusett 
very  full  of  his  stories,  to  discredit  those  who  were  zealous  in  promot- 
ing convictions,  &c. 

27.  N.  B.  Mr.  Loring's  angry  rebuke  directed  to  me  at  dinner,  for 
opposing  Mr.  Marsh. 

28.  We  have  the  utmost  reason  to  celebrate  the  divine  patience 
and  long  suffering,  inasmuch  as  he  has  not  only  waited  three  years 
upon  this  church,  and  upon  me  their  unworthy  pastor,  seeking  fruit 
upon  us;  nor  only  three  times  three;  but  this  day  it  is  no  less  space 
than  twice  three  times  three  years.  O  may  we  be  humbled  for  our 
manifold  defects  and  unprofitableness!  O  might  I,  in  peculiar,  who 
have  the  greatest  need  1  And  may  God,  of  his  infinite  mercy,  grant  us 
grace,  and  to  me  in  special,  that,  henceforth,  we  may  bring  some  fruit 
to  his  glory !     Jejun,  Priv. 

31.  On  Hab.  6:  7,  8;  in  which  I  endeavoured  to  improve  the  divine 
admonitions  and  instructions  to  our  quickening  and  awakening.  See 
the  28th  day. 

J^ovember  16.  N.  B.  Mr.  Stephen  Fay  here,  and  tarried  and  dined 
with  me  ;  was  with  me  all  the  afternoon,  and  some  part  of  the  even- 
ing. He  revealed  several  wonderful  experiences  which  he  had,  both 
last  spring  and  lately.  He  told  me  he  had  a  weighty,  pressing  con- 
cern for  two  souls.  I  found  he  meant  his  own  and  mine.  I  asked 
him  what  he  had  discovered  in  me,  that  gave  him  reason  to  suspect 
me.     He  told  me,  my  preaching  and  conversation ;  for  that  if  I  had  a 


212  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

true  sight  of  eternal  things,  he  thought  I  should  be  more  zealous  and 
fervent;  for,  for  his  part,  he  felt  as  if  he  could  cry  out,  &c.  I  con- 
fessed my  dullness;  yet  made  some  appeal  to  my  sermons,  especially 
of  late  delivered.  I  spoke  of  the  different  tempers  of  men  ;  the  di- 
versities of  gifts,  but  the  same  spirit;  the  different  frames  which  both 
speakers  and  hearers  are  in  at  different  times ;  professed,  however, 
my  need  of  divine  grace  and  the  supply  of  the  Spirit,  to  revive  and 
quicken  and  furnish  and  assist  me,  and  of  his  prayers,  (and  asked 
them,)  that  I  might  obtain  the  presence  and  Spirit  of  God  with  me ; 
and  whatever  God  should  afford,  should  give  in  to  me,  I  would  en- 
deavour to  give  out  to  them.  We  parted  in  great  peace  and  love. 
May  the  Lord  sanctify  the  admonition  to  me,  and  hereby  stir  up  in  me 
a  spirit  of  care  and  jealousy  over  my  own  soul ;  and  enliven  me  with 
respect  to  the  souls  committed  to  my  care  !  O  might  it  please  God  to 
impress  me  deeply  with  the  worth  of  immortal  souls,  and  my  tremen- 
dous account  in  the  day  of  Christ,  of  those  of  this  flock,  and  of  all  my 
charge  ! 

18.  Mr.  Gushing  here  P.  M.  He  came  on  the  business  of  Sarah 
Sparhawk's  living  here,  that  he  might  write  to  her  grandfather  about 
her.  But  she  grows  so  untoward,  that  we  drew  up  determinations  to 
put  her  away,  unless  she  will  reform. 

22.  P.  M.  came  Mr.  Samuel  Streeter,  of  Hopkinton,  and  gave  me 
some  account  of  himself  and  his  spiritual  state  for  some  years  past, 
but  especially  of  his  darkness  and  trouble  till  the  fast  at  Hopkinton 
last  December  29,  and  (to  God  the  sole  glory)  the  help  he  received  by 
my  sermon  on  Ps.  63 :  8. 

26.  Mr.  Prentice  of  Grafton  came  to  see  me.  I  inquired  whether 
he  had  sought  reconcilement  with  Mr.  Loring  of  Sudbury,  as  he  had 
engaged  at  Rutland.  He  could  not  say  he  had.  He  brought  me  his 
church's  desire  and  his  own,  to  assist  them  in  a  fast  next  Thursday 
come  sennight.  But  I  insisted  upon  his  reconcilement  with  Mr.  Lor- 
ing. N.  B.  Mr.  Hall  had  told  him  and  his  wife,  that  at  his  late  visit 
to  me,  I  received  him  but  coldly. 

December  A.  [Returned  home  from  Boston,  late,  and  in  bad  weather. 
Took  cold,  which  brought  on  rheumatism  and  fever,  from  which  he 
was  slowly  recovering  Dec.  20.] 

9.  A  fast  at  Grafton.  —  Sarah  Sparhawk  very  intolerable  in  insist- 
ing to  go  to  Grafton,  though  there  was  nobody  at  home  but  she  to 
take  care  of  the  business  of  the  house,  my  wife  waiting  on  me. 

18.  I  had  sent  a  letter  to  Mr.  Joseph  Sparhawk,  but  no  return. 
The  ways  heavy  yet,  but  sent  Ebenezer  with  Sarah  to  said  Mr.  Spar- 
hawk at  Sutton. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  213 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Edwards. — The  Revival  at  Enfield. — Outcries,  Faintings,  and  Convulsions. 

It  cannot  be  said  that,  during  all  these  transactions,  Jona- 
than Edwards  was  the  presiding  mind  of  New  England.  His 
reputation  and  influence  had  indeed  been  increasing  rapidly, 
both  in  America  and  in  Europe  ;  and  perhaps  there  was  no 
other  man  in  New  England  whom  the  friends  of  piety  es- 
teemed so  highly,  or  from  whom  they  expected  so  much. 
But  New  England  never,  at  any  period  of  her  history,  had  a 
presiding  mind.  Even  among  the  Orthodox  Congregational 
clergy,  there  has  never  been  a  man  who  could  procure  the 
adoption  of  his  own  views,  without  the  aid  of  others  who 
agreed  with  him  substantially,  and  who  did  not  borrow  their 
views  from  him.  Edwards,  indeed,  had  done  more  than  any 
other  man  to  awaken  the  ministry  and  the  churches  in  the 
first  instance,  and  to  produce  the  movement  which  had  now 
become  general.  But  it  was  a  movement  of  minds  that 
thought  for  themselves.  No  one  man,  therefore,  could  guide 
it.  Many  would  be  sure  to  throw  in  the  influence  of  their 
peculiarities,  —  their  wisdom,  their  folly,  and  their  passions, 
—  to  modify  the  result.  Whitefield  had  shot  across  the  land 
like  a  meteor,  flashing  light,  and  creating  astonishment  and 
admiration.  Tennent,  from  the  revival  school  in  New  Jer- 
sey, which,  though  harmonious  and  in  correspondence  with 
that  at  Northampton,  was  not  derived  from  it,  had  taken  his 
own  way,  and  perhaps  having  contracted  something  of  a  tone 
of  defiance  from  the  warfare  in  which  he  had  been  engaged, 
he,  unlike  Edwards,  sometimes  irritated  the  wicked  without 
overawing  them.  The  fervid  Parsons,  who  was  a  safe  man 
only  because  he  learned  so  readily  by  experience,  and  re- 
treated so  quickly  from  the  borders  of  error,  had  enkindled 
a  spirit  like  his  own  around  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut. 
Wheelock  and  Pomroy  had  spread  wide  an  impulse,  general- 
ly in  the  right  direction,  but  not  sufficiently  discriminating. 
And  finally,  the  learned,  orthodox  and  pious  clergy  of  Bos- 
ton were  still  regarded  as  the  chief  depositaries  of  influence  ; 
and  though  they  gladly  borrowed  thoughts  from  all,  and  most 


214  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

readily  from   their  esteemed  friend   at   Northampton,   could 
give  themselves  up  to  the  guidance  of  none.      The  character f 

/of  the    revival,  then,  was  derived    from    many  independent! 
sources,  each  imparting  characteristic  traits,  which  prevailed  ' 
according  to  the  power  from  which  it  sprung.      The  influ- 
ence of  Edwards  made  no  forced  marches,  but  was  steadily 
advancing  to  the  occupation  of  the  whole  country  ;  and  it 
continued  to  advance,  while  he  lived  and  after  his  death. 

Still,  he  was  perhaps  the  most  efficient  preacher  in  New- 
England,  even  if  judged  by  the  immediate  effect  of  his  ser- 
/  mons.  Many  think  of  him  as  an  intellectual  giant,  indeed, 
but  as  a  giant  wholly  composed  of  intellect,  and  suppose  that 
his  power  consisted  entirely  in  the  cold  conclusiveness  of  his 
unimpassioned  logic.  A  greater  mistake  is  scarce  possible. 
Besides  his  logic,  there  was  his  strong  and  realizing  faith. 
God,  heaven,  hell,  the  sinfulness  of  sin,  the  beauty  of  holiness, 
the  glory  of  Christ  and  the  claims  of  his  gospel,  were  as  sub- 
stantial realities  to  his  mind  and  heart,  as  the  valley  of  the 
Connecticut  or  the  mountains  of  Berkshire.  He  spoke  of 
them  accordingly,  and  made  them  seem  real  to  his  hearers. 
He  was  perhaps  as  remarkable  for  his  power  and  habit  of 
deep  and  strong  and  tender  feeling,  as  for  his  powers  of  ar- 
gumentation. Take  a  specimen,  from  his  own  personal  nar- 
rative. 

"  Sometimes,  only  mentioning  a  single  word,  caused  my  heart  to 
burn  within  me  ;  or  only  seeing  the  name  of  Christ,  or  the  name  of 
some  attribute  of  God.  —  The  sweetest  joys  and  delights  I  have  ex- 
perienced, have  not  been  those  that  have  arisen  from  a  hope  of  my 
own  good  estate  ;  but  in  a  direct  view  of  the  glorious  things  of  the 
gospel.  When  I  enjoy  this  sweetness,  it  seems  to  carry  me  above  the 
thoughts  of  my  own  estate.  It  seems,  at  such  times,  a  loss  that  I  can- 
not bear,  to  take  off  my  eye  from  the  glorious  pleasant  object  I  behold 
without  me,  to  turn  my  eye  in  upon  myself,  and  my  own  good  estate." 

"Once,  as  I  rode  out  into  the  woods  for  my  health,  in  J737,  having 
alighted  from  my  horse  in  a  retired  place,  as  my  manner  commonly 
has  been,  to  walk  for  divine  contemplation  and  prayer,  I  liad  a  view, 
that  for  me  was  extraordinary,  of  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  God,  as  me- 
diator between  God  and  man,  and  his  wonderful,  great,  full,  pure  and 
eweet  grace  and  love,  and  meek  and  gentle  condescension.  This 
grace,  that  appeared  so  calm  and  sweet,  appeared  also  great  above 
the  heavens.  The  person  of  Christ  appeared  ineffably  excellent,  with 
an  excellency  great  enough  to  swallow  up  all  thought  and  concep- 
tion;—  which  continued,  as  near  as  I  can  judge,  about  an  hour ;  which 
kept  me  the  greater  part  of  the  time  in  a  flood  of  tears,  weeping 
aloud.  I  felt  an  ardency  of  soul  to  be,  what  I  know  not  how  other- 
wise to  express,  emptied  and  anniiiilated ;  to  lie  in  the  dust,  and  to 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  215 

be  full  of  Christ  alone ;  to  love  him  with  a  holy  and  pure  love ;  to 
trust  in  him ;  to  live  upon  him ;  to  serve  and  follow  him ;  and  to  be 
perfectly  sanctified  and  made  pure,  with  a  divine  and  heavenly  purity. 
I  have  several  other  times  had  views  very  much  of  the  same  nature, 
and  which  have  had  the  same  effects." 

Such  a  man  must  have  felt  strongly  when  he  preached. 
He  must  have  been  powerfully  moved  with  compassion  for 
the  souls  of  his  hearers,  and  with  desires  for  their  salvation. 
And  besides  this,  he  must  have  preached  with  an  ardent  zeal 
for  the  glory  of  God  ;  with  an  intense  anxiety  that  the  divine 
object  of  his  affections  should  not  be  wronged,  by  the  with- 
holding of  that  love  and  trust  and  reverence  which  are  his  due. 

The  traits  already  mentioned  imply  a  powerful  imagina- 
tion ;  and  in  this  respect  he  has  seldom  had  a  superior. 
Heaven  and  holiness  were  too  heavenly  and  holy,  in  his  ap- 
prehension, to  be  set  forth  by  earthly  imagery  ;  yet  he  has 
left  us  some  bright  specimens  of  the  beautiful. 

"Holiness,  as  I  then  wrote  down  some  of  my  contemplations  on  it, 
appeared  to  me  to  be  of  a  sweet,  pleasant,  charming,  serene,  calm 
nature ;  which  brought  an  inexpressible  purity,  brightness,  peaceful- 
ness  and  ravishment  to  the  soul.  In  other  words,  it  made  the  soul 
like  a  field  or  garden  of  God,  with  all  manner  of  pleasant  flowers  ;  en- 
joying a  sweet  calm,  and  the  gentle,  vivifying  beams  of  the  sun.  The 
soul  of  a  true  Christian,  as  I  then  wrote  my  meditations,  appeared  like 
such  a  little  white  flower  as  we  see  in  the  spring  of  the  year;  low  and 
humble  on  the  ground,  opening  its  bosom  to  receive  the  pleasant 
beams  of  the  sun's  glory ;  rejoicing,  as  it  were,  in  a  calm  rapture  ; 
diffusing  around  a  sweet  fragrancy  ;  standing  peacefully  and  lovingly 
in  the  midst  of  other  flowers  round  about,  all  in  like  manner  opening 
their  bosoms  to  drink  in  the  light  of  the  sun." 

What  delicate  imagery  is  here  !  What  exquisite  personi- 
fication of  the  flowers  of  the  garden,  endowing  them  with 
life,  and  consciousness,  and  moral  beauty  !  How  naturally 
these  lovely  musings  "  move  harmonious  numbers,"  so  that 
his  very  words  flow  sweetly  as  he  utters  them  ! 

But  the  most  wonderful  displays  of  his  imagination  were 
put  forth  in  describing  the  imminent  danger  of  the  wicked, 
and  the  awful  scenes  that  await  the  enemies  of  God.  There 
is  nothing  of  the  kind  in  the  great  masters  of  English  poetry, 
or  of  any  other  uninspired  poetry,  that  equals,  in  imaginative 
power,  many  passages  in  his  sermons.  Read  his  sermon  on 
the  Punishment  of  the  Wicked,  or  that  on  the  Eternity  of 
Hell  Torments.  Or  rather,  read  that  entitled  "  Sinners  in 
the  hands  of  an  angry  God  ;"  of  the  preaching  and  effects  of 
which  we  have  an  account. 


216  THE    GREAT  AWAKENING. 

It  was  preached  at  Enfield,  July  8,  1741.  "While  the 
people  in  the  neighbouring  towns  were  in  great  distress  for 
their  souls,"  says  the  historian,*  "  the  inhabitants  of  that 
town  were  very  secure,  loose,  and  vain.  A  lecture  had  been 
appointed  at  Enfield  ;  and  the  neighbouring  people,  the  night 
before,  were  so  affected  at  the  thoughtlessness  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, and  in  such  fears  that  God  would,  in  his  righteous 
judgment,  pass  them  by,  while  the  divine  showers  were  fall- 
ing all  around  them,  as  to  be  prostrate  before  him  a  consid- 
erable part  of  it,  supplicating  mercy  for  their  souls.  When 
the  appointed  time  for  the  lecture  came,  a  number  of  the 
neighbouring  ministers  attended,  and  some  from  a  distance. 
When  they  went  into  the  meetinghouse,  the  appearance  of 
the  assembly  was  thoughtless  and  vain.  The  people  hardly 
conducted  themselves  with  common  decency."  Edwards 
preached.  His  plain,  unpretending  manner,  both  in  language 
and  delivery,  and  his  established  reputation  for  holiness  and 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  forbade  the  suspicion  that  any  trick 
of  oratory  would  be  used  to  mislead  his  hearers.  He  began 
in  the  clear,  careful,  demonstrative  style  of  a  teacher,  solici- 
tous for  the  result  of  his  effort,  and  anxious  that  every  step 
of  his  argument  should  be  clearly  and  fully  understood.  His 
text  was,  Deut.  32  :  35.  "  Their  foot  shall  slide  in  due 
time."  As  he  advanced  in  unfolding  the  meaning  of  the  text, 
the  most  careful  logic  brought  him  and  his  hearers  to  conclu- 
sions, which  the  most  tremendous  imagery  could  but  inade- 
quately express.  His  most  terrific  descriptions  of  the  doom 
and  danger  of  the  impenitent,  only  enabled  them  to  appre- 
hend more  clearly  the  truths  which  he  had  compelled  them  to 
believe.  They  seemed  to  be,  not  the  product  of  the  ima- 
gination, but,  —  what  they  really  were,  —  a  part  of  the  argu- 
ment. The  effect  was  as  might  have  been  expected.  Trum- 
bull informs  us,  that  "before  the  sermon  was  ended,  the  as- 
sembly appeared  deeply  impressed  and  bowed  down  with  an 
awful  conviction  of  their  sin  and  danger.  There  was  such  a 
breathing  of  distress  and  weeping,  that  the  preacher  was 
obliged  to  speak  to  the  people  and  desire  silence,  that  he 
might  be  heard.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  same  great 
and  prevailing  concern  in  that  place,  with  which  the  colony 
in  general  was  visited." 

*  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut,  Vol.  II.  p.  145.     Trumbull  learned 
the  particulars  from  Wheelock,  of  Lebanon,  who  was  present. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  217 

Edwards  was  often  called  to  preach  beyond  the  limits  of 
his  own  parish  ;  and  "  whithersoever  he  turned  himself,"  he 
seems  to  have  prospered.  In  the  winter  of  1742,  he  spent 
some  weeks,  by  invitation,  at  Leicester,  of  which  we  only- 
know  that  his  labors  were  attended  with  distinguished  suc- 
cess. *  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  scenes  much  like 
those  at  Enfield  occurred  in  many  places  under  his  preach- 
ing. Those  who  understand  the  force  of  his  sermon  at  En- 
field will  not  wonder,  that  men  who  were  awakened  and  con- 
vinced by  it,  were  unable  to  conceal  their  anguish,  and  "  cried 
out  "  in  bitterness  of  spirit.  Edwards  was  right  in  doubt- 
ing whether  those  who  blamed  such  outcries,  would  behave 
much  better,  if  they  had  equally  clear  views  of  their  own 
guilt  and  danger.  We  must  remember,  too,  that  the  senti- 
ments and  usages  of  society,  a  century  ago,  did  not  require 
that  universal  repression  of  feeling,  which  is  now  expected  in 
all  well-educated  people.  The  Puritans  of  the  first  genera- 
tion were  by  no  means  scandalized,  when  their  people  felt  so 
strongly  that  they  could  not  conceal  their  emotions.  Of 
Thomas  Shepard,  the  holy  minister  of  Cambridge,  it  was 
said,  "  that  he  scarce  ever  preached  a  sermon,  but  some  or 
other  of  his  congregation  were  struck  with  great  distress,  and 
cried  out  in  agony,  what  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  .'"'  This 
was  so  much  expected,  that  those  who  had  been  detained 
from  worship  used  to  ask,  "  Who  hath  been  wrought  upon  to 
day  .''  "  In  the  time  of  Edwards,  audible  expressions  of  feel- 
ing by  the  hearers  in  public  worship  had  begun  to  be  consid- 
ered indecorous  ;  for  hearers  were  not  expected  to  be  over- 
come by  strong  emotions  ;  but  the  demand  of  public  senti- 
ment for  silence  was  much  less  imperative  then  than  now. 

It  was  a  time,  too,  of  agitable  nerves.  There  had  been 
two  centuries  of  tremendous  nervous  excitement.  There 
had  been  the  Reformation,  the  peasant's  war,  and  the  religious 
wars  in  Germany  ;  the  Reformation,  the  rise  of  Puritanism, 
the  republic,  and  the  times  of  the  Covenanters  in  Great  Bri- 
tain ;  the  rise  of  Protestantism,  the  religious  wars,  and  the 
persecutions  of  the  Huguenots  in  France,  ending  with  the 
appearance  of  the  "French  prophets"  in  the  Cevennes, 
some  of  whom  were  still  holding  forth  among  their  followers 

*  The  appendix  to  Chapter  XII.  shows  that  he  spent  a  part  of  the  time 
in  other  towns. 

19 


218  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

in  London.  New  England  sprung  out  of  some  of  the  strorig- 
est,  deepest,  and  most  permanent  of  these  excitements  ;  and, 
to  say  nothing  of  her  religious  history,  her  contest  with  bois- 
terous seas,  and  gloomy,  unexplored  forests,  and  savage  foes, 
the  arrow  from  an  unseen  hand  by  day  and  the  warwhoop  that 
startled  her  sleepers  by  night,  had  kept  her  spirit  ready  for 
excitement.  Though  not  to  be  frightened,  she  was  easily 
roused,  even  to  an  unnatural  intensity  of  feeling  and  action. 

The  presence  and  agency  of  the  spiritual  world  were  much 
more  real  to  men's  minds  than  they  are  now.  The  discus- 
sions which  grew  out  of  the  Salem  tragedy,  had  shown  the 
fallacy  of  those  principles  of  evidence,  on  which  persons  had, 
up  to  that  time,  been  condemned  and  executed  for  witch- 
craft in  every  nation  of  Christendom  ;  *  but  the  British  stat- 
ute for  punishing  witchcraft  with  death  was  still  in  force,  and 
the  belief  in  its  reality  was  still  general.  Spirits,  good  and 
bad,  were  then  expected,  by  multitudes,  occasionally  to  pro- 
duce sensible  effects  on  the  visible  world,  and  especially  on 
sentient  bodies.  And  as  the  influence  of  the  mind  and  the 
nerves  on  each  other  and  on  the  whole  human  system  had 
not  been  investigated  as  it  has  since,  many  phenomena  were 
naturally  referred  to  supernatural  agency,  which  now  would 
be  referred  at  once  to  well  known  laws. 

With  these  facts  in  view,  the  reader  of  Edwards'  Enfield 
sermon  cannot  be  surprised  at  its  visible  and  audible  effects. 
Nor  can  it  be  thought  surprising  that  some,  constitutionally 
accessible  to  such  influences,  fainted,  fell  down,  or  were 
thrown  into  convulsions  on  similar  occasions.  Nor  is  it 
stranger  than  dreaming,  while  their  bodies  were  thus  over- 
come, the  activity  of  their  minds  should  continue  ;  that  the 
train  of  thought  which  had  subdued  them,  should  keep  pos- 
session of  them  ;  that  their  imaginations  should  give  to  the 
objects  of  their  thoughts,  the  appearance  of  bodily  form  ;  in 
short,  that  there  should  be  trances  and  visions.  Nor  is  it  at 
all  incredible  that  these  trances  and  visions  should  help  them 
forward  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  If  the  trains  of 
thought  that  overcame  them  were  advancing  in  the  right  di- 
rection, that  intense  nervous  excitement  might  increase  their 
power,  and  enable  them  to  see  truths  which,  in  the  calm  of 

*  Had  the  fallacy  of  those  principles  been  exposed  in  any  other  part  of 
the  world  ?  Or  has  New  England  the  honor  of  first  showing,  that  the  ordi- 
narily admitted  evidence  of  witchcraft  was  insufficient? 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  219 

ordinary  health  and  unimpassioned  meditation,  would  have 
been  beyond  their  reach.  And  then,  in  every  time  of  revi- 
val, there  are  some  who  remain  wilfully  unmoved  and  uncon- 
vinced. Where  this  required  strong  and  protracted  effort, 
the  mental  and  nervous  excitement  which  that  eflbrt  cost,  in- 
creased the  liability  to  fainting  and  convulsions.  And  when 
they  came  on,  and  the  man  found  himself  mastered  by  an  in- 
visible power,  which  he  could  neither  resist  nor  understand, 
but  which,  in  some  mysterious  way,  accompanied  the  argu- 
ments that  he  was  wilfully  and  wickedly  resisting  ;  when  the 
power  of  divine  truth  over  him  had  become  manifest  to  all, 
and  his  perverse  pride  of  character,  as  an  unmoved  despiser 
of  religious  terrors,  was  prostrate,  so  that  his  motive  for  con- 
cealment was  gone  ;  it  was  natural  that  he  should  yield  to  the 
arguments  which  had  before  loudly  demanded  his  assent. 

Still  it  will  be  said,  that  men  who  were  thus  impelled  to 
cry  out,  who  fainted,  fell,  and  had  convulsions,  were  under  an 
awful  delusion  ;  that  the  gospel  addresses  men  kindly,  and 
bids  them  hope  ;  that,  if  they  had  been  taught  and  had  under- 
stood and  believed  its  messages  of  mercy,  they  would  have 
been  filled  with  joy  and  peace  ;  that,  therefore,  the  terrific 
view  of  their  condition,  which  filled  their  minds  and  overcame 
their  hearts,  was  an  erroneous  view,  such  as  men  under  the 
gospel  ought  not  to  entertain  ;  and  that  their  teachers  should 
have  striven  to  fill  their  minds  with  the  comforts  which 
the  gospel  offers.  This  is  all  true;  and  Edwards  and  his 
friends  knew  it,  and  acted  accordingly.  These  alarmed, 
convicted  sinners  were  under  an  awful  delusion,  and  that 
delusion  was  what  kept  them  from  peace,  and  from  re- 
joicing in  God  their  Saviour  ;  but  their  delusion  shortly  be- 
fore, while  they  were  sinning  thoughtlessly  and  carelessly, 
was  still  more  awful.  They  had  left  the  path  of  duty  and  of 
safety,  and  in  proud  self-reliance  had  wandered  forth  upon 
the  dark  mountains,  despising  what  they  esteemed  idle  tales 
of  danger.  At  length,  the  lightnings  of  the  gathering  storm 
show  them  where  they  are,  —  on  the  brink  of  a  fatal  preci- 
pice. They  start  back  and  gaze  around  with  horror.  Be- 
fore them  and  below  them,  are  bones,  and  putrid  corpses, 
and  mangled  bodies  writhing  death.  Above  them  are  the 
fires  and  thunders  of  the  tempest.  Behind  them  and  around 
them  are  the  howling  winds,  and  the  rising,  rushing  floods, 
and   the  falling  trees,  and  the  roar  of  lions,  seeking  whom 


220  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

they  may  devour.  There  is  a  safe  path,  and  the  voice  of  the 
guide  is  heard  behind  them,  saying  "  This  is  the  way  ;  walk 
ye  in  it  ;"  but  they  have  learned  to  regard  it  as  the  voice  of  a 
fool,  or  a  madman,  or  of  one  that  would  lead  them  into  per- 
petual gloom  ;  and  they  neither  understand  nor  heed  it. 
They  see  nothing,  hear  nothing,  think  of  nothing,  but  what 
threatens  instant  ruin.  They  are  under  an  awful  delusion, 
which  fills  them  with  terror,  and,  unless  soon  dispelled,  will 
plunge  them  into  destruction.  But  blame  not  the  flash  of 
light  which  showed  them  where  they  stood.  Without  it,  the 
next  step  would  have  been  into  perdition.  Now,  they  may 
perish  in  their  consternation  ;  but  it  may  also  be,  that  they  will 
hear  the  voice  that  calls  them  to  safety,  and  their  souls  will  live. 

It  is  very  true,  that  "preaching  hell  cannot  frighten  men 
into  religion  ;"  but  it  may  frighten  them  into  serious  thought, 
and  secure  to  religious  truth  that  attention,  without  which  it 
cannot  save  the  soul.  After  all  that  can  be  said  of  the  pow-' 
er  of  love  and  of  kindness,  and  the  winning  accents  of  mer- 
cy, and  the  like,  it  remains  an  awful  truth,  that  men  will  not' 
give  any  efficient  attention  to  these  things,  till  they  have  been 
first  brought  to  see  their  need  of  them.  Till  then,  all  that 
they  hear  about  the  mercy  of  God,  only  gives  them  courage 
to  neglect  him. 

But  these  views,  though  true  and  conclusive,  do  not  go  to 
the  bottom  of  the  subject.  These  sinners  were  not  merely 
alarmed,  but  convicted.  The)'^  not  only  were  told  of  their 
danger,  but  were  made  to  see  their  guilt  ;  and  it  was  the 
sight  of  their  guilt,  that  fastened  upon  them  the  conviction  of 
their  danger.  Examine  the  accounts  given  by  Edwards,  by 
Prince,  by  Crocker,  and  by  others,  of  the  exercises  of  the 
convicted.  These  men  understood  what  they  were  writing 
of,  and  carefully  observed  the  distinction  between  the  mere 
alarm  of  a  frightened  man,  and  the  rational  conviction  of  one 
who  feels  remorse  for  sins  which  he  knows  he  has  committed. 
They  examined  the  awakened  diligently  on  this  very  point, 
and  made  no  account  of  any  awakening  which  was  not  clearly 
of  the  latter  kind.  To  condemn  the  whole,  therefore,  as 
the  effect  of  irrational  fright,  is  to  show  a  culpable  disregard 
of  well-attested  facts.  Where  they  found  this  clear  and  ra- 
tional conviction,  Edwards  and  his  fellow-laborers  were  right 
in  pronouncing  the  work  genuine,  notwithstanding  any  irregu- 
larities or  strange  effects  upon  the  body,  that  migiit  attend  it. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  221 

Still,  such  "outward  manifestations"  are  exceedingly  to 
be  deprecated.  They  imply  a  state  of  the  nerves,  in  which 
the  mind  does  not  operate  safely.  It  acts  with  increased 
vigor,  and  may  do  more  and  better  than  at  other  times  ;  but 
its  liability  to  error  is  increased.  Strong  hopes  or  fears  may 
give  an  apparent  conclusiveness  to  false  reasonings.  Vivid 
impressions  on  the  fancy  may  be  mistaken  for  clear  percep- 
tions of  truth.  And  among  the  more  ignorant,  the  bodily 
agitations  themselves  may  come  to  be  counted  valuable  ;  and 
then  men  will  trust  in  them,  and  seek  after  them,  and  learn 
to  produce  them  voluntarily ;  and  thus  religion  may  be  de- 
graded into  a  mere  system  of  nervous  excitement.  These 
"  manifestations,"  therefore,  though  they  do  not  prove  the 
work  in  which  they  commence,  to  be  spurious,  are  a  fearful 
sign  that  it  will  soon  become  so  ;  and  as  they  prevail,  false 
conversions  will  be  sure  to  multiply. 

Occasional  instances  of  this  kind  will  occur,  wherever 
religion  appeals  with  sufficient  force  to  the  heart.  Persons 
sometimes  involuntarily  "  cry  out,"  fall  down,  faint,  or  go 
into  convulsions,  on  occasions  of  unexpected  joy  or  grief,  as 
the  arrival  or  death  of  a  friend  ;  and  whenever  a  religious 
consideration  moves  a  person  susceptible  of  such  influences 
with  equal  force,  and  especially  with  equal  suddenness,  the 
same  effect  naturally  follows.  Where  they  are  understood 
and  treated  as  the  result  of  human  or  individual  weakness, 
they  amount  to  little  more  than  an  inconvenience  to  the  per- 
sons afflicted,  and  to  a  few  immediately  around  them.  But 
where  they  are  valued  and  cultivated,  another  principle 
comes  in,  — that  of  sympathy,  or  involuntary  imitation,  and 
they  grow  into  what  may  be  called,  with  the  strictest  propri- 
ety, an  epidemic  disease.  The  process  has  never  been  fully 
explained,  but  is  illustrated  by  many  analogous  facts.  A 
man  may  walk  without  difficulty  on  a  plank  six  inches  wide, 
laid  on  the  ground.  But  let  him  attempt  to  walk  on  that 
same  plank,  one  hundred  feet  from  the  earth,  and  his  head 
swims.  The  thought  of  falling  "from  such  pernicious 
height  "  makes  a  strong  impression  on  his  mind,  takes  away 
his  sense  of  safety,  deprives  him  of  the  control  of  his  own 
muscles,  and,  in  the  end,  makes  him  fall.  So  the  expecta- 
tion or  the  dread  of  being  thrown  into  convulsions,  or  any 
other  feeling  which  fixes  the  thoughts  strongly  upon  it,  even 
19* 


222  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

if  it  be  a  feeling  of  strong  unwillingness,  may  be  the  means  of 
bringing  them  on. 

There  have  been  many  instances,  more  or  less  extensive, 
of  such  epidemics.  On  this  principle,  Mesmer,  the  author 
of  animal  magnetism,  produced  many  of  the  phenomena  that 
appeared  in  great  companies  of  patients.  The  poor-house 
at  Haerlem  was  pervaded,  for  a  time,  by  convulsions,  fre- 
quently recurring,  and  propagated  from  one  to  another  by 
sight.  But  though  their  occasions  have  been  various,  they 
have  more  frequently  attended  religious  excitements,  than 
any  other  single  concomitant.  One  of  the  most  remarkable 
examples  attended  the  great  "  Kentucky  revival,"  which 
commenced  in  1800.  Of  this  we  have  accounts  from  able 
and  learned  men,  physicians,  divines,  and  others,  who  were 
eyewitnesses  and  careful  observers  ;  *  but  the  most  graphic 
and  instructive  seems  to  be  that  of  the  shrewd,  though  ec- 
centric, Lorenzo  Dow.  He  preached  in  the  Court-house  at 
Knoxville,  Tennessee,  in  1805,  when  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  his  hearers  were  exercised  with  "the  jerks"; 
that  is,  with  violent  spasmodic  contractions  of  the  muscles, 
which  sometimes  turned  the  head  quickly  from  right  to  left 
and  back  again  ;  and  sometimes  threw  the  person  on  the 
ground,  where  he  flounced  like  a  live  fish.  He  says,  "  I 
have  seen  all  denominations  of  religion,  exercised  with  the 
jerks,  gentleman  and  lady,  black  and  white,  young  and  old, 
without  exception.  I  have  passed  a  meetinghouse,  where 
I  observed  the  undergrowth  had  been  cut  for  a  camp  meet- 
ing, and  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  saplings  were  left,  breast 
high,  on  purpose  for  the  people  who  were  jerked,  to  hold  on 
by.  I  observed,  where  they  had  held  on,  they  had  kicked 
up  the  earth,  as  a  horse  stamping  flies.  A  Presbyterian 
minister  told  me,  while  he  was  preaching,  the  day  before, 
some  had  the  jerks.  I  believe  it  does  not  affect  those  nat- 
uralists, who  wish  and  try  to  get  it  to  philosophize  upon  it ; 
and  rarely  those  who  are  the  most  pious  ;  but  the  lukewarm, 
lazy  professor  is  subject  to  it.  The  wicked  fear  it,  and  are 
subject  to  it ;  but  the  persecutors  are  more  subject  to  it  than 
any,  and  they  have  sometimes  cursed  and  swore  and  damned 
it,  while  jerking."     The   remark    concerning   naturalists   is 

*  The  account  given  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  may  be  found  in  the 
Connecticut  Evan.  Mag.  Vol.  II.  p.  354. 


THE.  GREAT  AWAKENLNG.  223 

what  might  be  expected.  Franklin  and  his  fellow  commis- 
sioners, appointed  by  the  king  of  France  to  investigate  the 
claims  of  animal  magnetism,  could  not  get  the  "jerks" 
which  Mesmer  inflicted  upon  his  patients,  "to  philosophize 
upon,"  with  all  the  assistance  the  magnetizer  could  render. 
The  deep,  established  peace  of  mind  of  "  the  most  pious," 
too,  was  generally  a  protection.  Dr.  Robertson,  an  eye- 
witness, says,  in  his  Inaugural  Essay  before  the  Medical  Fac- 
ulty at  Philadelphia:  —  "It  attacks  both  sexes,  and  every 
constitution  ;  but  evidently  more  readily,  those  who  are  en- 
thusiasts in  religion;"  that  is,  Dow's  "lukewarm,  lazy  pro- 
fessors," when  heated  ;  for  enthusiasts  are  usually  of  that 
class.  Dr.  Alexander  says,  that  the  phenomena  "  were  com- 
mon to  all  ages  and  sexes,  and  to  all  sorts  of  characters." 
Dow  says,  that  "  persecutors  "  had  it,  without  relaxing  their 
open  hatred  of  religion.  Others  testify  that  they  have  been 
thrown  into  "the  jerks"  by  hearing  a  description  of  the 
jerking  of  others,  and  without  any  religious  impression,  either 
attending  or  following  the  attack.* 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  in  this  instance,  although 
these  spasmodic  contractions  of  the  muscles,  in  the  begin- 
ning, had  their  rise  from  strong  religious  excitement,  they 
soon  became  a  genuine  epidemic  ;  a  distinct  matter  from  the 
revival ;  as  really  distinct  as  the  cold  and  cough,  which  a 
person  may  take  by  attending  worship,  is  from  his  devotion 
while  worshipping.  It  thenceforth  subsisted  independently 
of  the  cause  that  produced  it  ;  spread  itself  by  its  own  laws, 
and  was  connected  with  the  revival  only  by  subsisting  at  the 
same  time  and  in  the  same  place,  and  affecting,  in  many  in- 
stances, but  not  in  all,  the  same  subjects. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  Great  Awakening  of  1740, 
these  "  manifestations  "  began  to  assume  the  character  of  an 
epidemic;  though  by  no  means  so  clearly  as  in  the  "Ken- 
tucky revival."  The  various  steps  of  the  process  are  not 
so  clearly  marked,  as  the  reader  would  desire.  No  one 
seems  to  have  made  them  the  subject  of  calm  physiological 
observation.  Men  looked  upon  them  and  wrote  about  them, 
merely  in  their  bearing  on  the  genuineness  of  the  revival ; 

*  This  subject  is  ably  illustrated  in  an  "  Essay  upon  the  Influence  of  the 
Imagination  on  the  Mervous  System,  contributing  to  a  False  Hope  in  Reli- 
gion, by  Rev.  Grant  Powers."  It  was  published  at  Andover,  by  Flagg  &, 
Gould,  in  1823,  and  has  furnished  several  of  the  facts  here  mentioned. 


224  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

some  alleging  them  as  proof  of  its  spuriousness,  and  others 
adducing  them  as  marks  of  its  divine  origin  ;  while  sound 
divines,  generally,  considered  them  as  the  results  of  human 
weakness  under  the  powerful  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  thus  as  the  measure  of  the  amount  of  divine  power  exert- 
ed on  the  several  subjects. 

Insulated  cases,  but  not  unfrequent,  occurred  from  the 
commencement  of  this  awakening.  They  appeared  under 
the  preaching  of  Blair,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1739.  Blair,  as 
appears  by  his  own  account,  in  a  former  part  of  this  volume, 
was  peculiarly  suspicious  of  the  soundness  of  the  spiritual 
work  in  such  as  were  thus  affected,  and  examined  them  with 
unusual  closeness  ;  though,  when  he  found  the  spiritual  part 
as  it  should  be,  he  was  too  good  a  philosopher  to  condemn 
the  work  on  account  of  the  state  of  the  body.  The  Scotch 
Presbyterians,  among  whom  Blair  preached,  might  have  seen 
such  things  before  their  emigration  ;  for  there  had  been  not  a 
few  instances  of  the  kind  in  their  father  land,  many  years 
before.  Whitefield  had  seen  them  in  England.  Among  the 
Methodists,  they  first  appeared  under  the  preaching  of  the 
Wesleys.  John  received  and  valued  them  as  proofs  of  the 
divine  presence,  and  they  increased  under  his  labors.  Charles 
discouraged  them,  and  in  one  instance,  at  least,  recorded  his 
suspicion  of  hypocrisy.  Whitefield  was  incredulous  ;  and 
when  at  last  some,  who  had  been  John  Wesley's  hearers, 
fell  down  under  Whitefield's  preaching,  Wesley  thanked  God 
fof  it,  thinking  that  Whitefield  would  then  be  convinced. 
The  argument  seems  to  have  failed  ;  for  when  Whitefield 
saw  the  same  "  manifestations  "  under  his  preaching  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  Jersey,  in  1740,  he  ascribed  them  to  dia- 
bolic influence.  "  Satan  now  begins  to  throw  many  into 
fits."*  Our  accounts  from  this  region  are  very  defective. 
Gilbert  Tennent,  who  had  the  best  opportunities  for  observa- 
tion, kept  no  journal.  Blair's  account  of  the  revival  among 
his  people,  already  quoted,  and  a  few  incidental  remarks  of 
Whitefield  and  others,  are  our  only  sources  of  information. 
Mr.  Dickinson,  in  his  account  of  the  awakening  at  Elizabeth- 
town,  June,  1740,  writes  :  "  There  was  no  crying  out,  or 
falling  down,  as  has  elsetchere  happened.''''  William  Tennent 
states,  that  under  the  ministry  of  his  brother  John,  who  was 

*  Letter  from  Reedy  Island,  May  19. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  225 

ordained  at  Freehold,  N.  J.  November  19,  1730,  and  died 
April  23,  1732,  "it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  persons, 
in  the  time  of  hearing,  sobbing  as  if  their  hearts  would  break, 
but  without  any  public  outcry  :  and  some  have  been  carried 
out  of  the  assembly,  (being  overcome,)  as  if  they  had  been 
dead."  Gillies*  mentions  faintings,  so  that  a  number  were 
carried  out  in  a  state  of  insensibility,  under  the  preaching  of 
Rowland,  in  a  Baptist  church,  probably  at  Philadelphia  ;  but 
he  gives  no  date.  Gilbert  Tennent  was  present ;  and  at  his 
suggestion,  Rowland  changed  the  style  of  his  discourse,  and 
the  faintings  ceased.  In  Finley's  Nottingham  sermon, 
"Christ  triumphing  and  Satan  raging," — "  wherein  is  prov- 
ed that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  come  unto  us  at  this  day," 
which  was  printed  at  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and  London  in 
1741,  t  we  are  told  that  opposers  of  the  revival,  "without 
observing  the  deep  concern  that  souls  seem  to  be  under,  — 
only  ask  about  the  fits  and  convulsions  that  their  sorrow 
throws  them  into."  In  New  England,  some  instances  of 
fainting  and  falling  attended  the  "  Surprising  Conversions  "  at 
and  around  Northampton  in  1735  ;  but,  so  far  as  appears, 
without  convulsions. 

We  may  conclude,  therefore,  with  little  hazard  of  error, 
that  the  nervous  diathesis,  as  physicians  say,  of  the  age  was 
favorable  to  such  phenomena  ;  that  sporadic  cases  were  more 
frequent  then  than  now  ;  that  when  one  happened  under 
some  alarming  or  exciting  sermon,  other  individuals,  already 
predisposed,  and  strongly  moved  by  the  preaching,  would  be 
more  readily  affected  in  the  same  way  ;  and  that,  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  they  first  became  prevalent,  so  as  to  be  a 
common,  though  not  constant  attendant  on  revivals,  in  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  How  were  they  made  prevalent 
in  New  England  .'' 

Here,  as  everywhere,  the  nervous  diathesis  favored  their 
production  ;  and  the  wonder  with  which  they  were  viewed, 
increased  the  predisposition.  They  occurred  in  considera- 
ble nun)bersi  under  ihe  preaching  of  Parsons,  at  Lyme,  and 
of  others,  in  other  places.  Ministers  who  saw  such  effects 
produced  by  preaching  the  truth  with  prayer  and  singleness 

*  Life  of  Whitefield,  p.  3?)  ;  note. 

t  A  copy  of  the  Boston  edition  of  1742,  is  in  the  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib.  It  is  a 
tremendous  discourse,  scarcely  less  scorching  than  Tennent's  Nottingham 
sermon. 


226  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

of  heart ;  who,  by  careful  examination,  found  that  they  were 
accompanied  with  rational  conviction,  and  followed  by  sound 
conversion,  dared  not  treat  them  otherwise  than  gently. 
They  never  ascribed  these  bodily  agitations  to  divine  influ- 
ence directly,  as  was  slanderously  reported  ;  but  to  those 
convictions,  hopes,  and  fears,  which  divine  influence  had 
imparted,  and  which  produced  the  same  effects  as  equally 
violent  feelings  concerning  wordly  things  might  have  done. 
This  distinction  they  carefully  and  clearly  made  and  abun- 
dantly urged  ;  and  their  adversaries  committed  sin  in  wilfully 
overlooking  it.  But  after  all,  the  lenity  with  which  these 
"  manifestations  "  were  treated,  though  natural,  was  too  great, 
and  the  ignorant  took  occasion  to  consider  them  as  parts  of 
the  revival,  —  of  that  process  by  which  their  souls  were  to 
be  saved.  A  more  decided  discouragement  of  them  would 
have  saved  a  vast  amount  of  evil.  "  As  to  visions,"  says 
good  old  father  White,  of  Gloucester,  "we  had  enough  of 
them,  until  such  time  as  in  a  lecture-sermon,  I  declared  my 
sentiments  concerning  them  ;  and,  so  far  as  I  can  understand, 
there  has  never  been  one  since."  It  would  have  been  well, 
if  others  had  taken  the  same  course. 

Edwards  published  copiously  on  the  subject  ;  and  it  will 
not  be  an  easy  task  to  point  out  an  error  in  all  his  reasonings. 
Yet  it  must  be  admitted,  that,  in  the  practical  application  of 
his  own  principles,  he  was  too  indulgent  to  these  bodily  agi- 
tations. Several  reasons  concurred  to  make  him  so.  Under 
many  of  his  most  effective  sermons, — those  which  actually 
accomplished  most  in  the  promotion  of  holy  living, — num- 
bers of  his  hearers  were  deprived  of  self-command,  and 
forced  to  "cry  out,"  and  to  weep  aloud,  as  at  Enfield.  A 
little  more  would  have  produced  fainting  in  some,  and  con- 
vulsions in  others.  He,  himself,  in  some  of  his  best  frames, 
had  been  nearly  overcome,  so  as  to  spend  he  knew  not  how 
much  time  in  loud  weeping  ;  and  he  knew  that  such  seasons 
promoted  his  own  piety.  But  there  was  another,  —  a  do- 
mestic reason,  the  exhibition  of  which  will  give  to  many  a 
new  idea  of  the  ciiaracter  of  Edwards. 

In  1723,  when  he  was  about  twenty  years  of  age,  he  wrote 
on  a  blank  leaf  of  some  book  : 

"  They  .say  there  is  a  younfr  lady  in ,  who  is  beloved  of  that 

Great  Being  who  made  and  rules  the  world  ;  and  that  there  are  cer- 
tain seasons,  in  which  this  Great  Being,  in  some  way  or  other,  invisi- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  227 

ble,  comes  to  her  and  fills  her  mind  with  exceeding  sweet  delight,  and 
that  she  hardly  cares  for  any  thing,  except  to  meditate  on  him;  —  that 
she  expects  after  a  while  to  be  received  up  where  he  is ;  to  be  raised 
up  out  of  the  world,  and  caught  up  into  heaven ;  being  assured  that 
he  loves  her  too  well  to  let  her  remain  at  a  distance  from  him  always. 
There  she  is  to  dwell  with  him,  and  to  be  ravished  with  his  love  and 
delight  for  ever.  Therefore,  if  you  present  all  the  world  before  her, 
with  the  richest  of  its  treasures,  she  disregards  it  and  cares  not  for  it, 
and  is  unmindful  of  any  pain  or  affliction.  She  has  a  strange  sweet- 
ness in  her  mind,  and  singular  purity  in  her  affections ;  is  most  just 
and  conscientious  in  all  her  conduct;  and  you  could  not  persuade  her 
to  do  any  thing  wrong  or  sinful,  if  you  would  give  her  all  the  world, 
lest  she  should  offend  this  Great  Being.  She  is  of  a  wonderful  sweet- 
ness, calmness,  and  universal  benevolence  of  mind ;  especially  after 
this  Great  Being  has  manifested  himself  to  her  mind.  She  will  some- 
times go  about  from  place  to  place,  singing  sweetly,  and  seems  to  be 
always  full  of  joy  and  pleasure,  and  no  one  knows  for  what.  She  loves 
to  be  alone,  walking  in  the  fields  and  groves,  and  seems  to  have  some 
one  invisible  always  conversing  with  her." 

This  young  lady  was  Sarah  Pierrepont,  and  about  four 
years  after  this  was  written,  she  became  his  wife.  She  was 
not  only  a  person  of  eminent  piety,  of  rare  intellect,  and  ac- 
complished education,  but  uncommonly  beautiful.  After  all 
that  moralists  can  say,  insensibility  to  beauty  is  an  imperfec- 
tion, as  really  as  the  want  or  dormancy  of  any  other  faculty 
of  the  soul.  A  great  and  important  part  of  education  con- 
sists in  developing  the  taste,  —  the  power  of  appreciating 
beauty.  In  Edwards,  as  we  have  already  seen,  it  was  highly 
developed  ;  and  he  could  not  but  feel  exquisitely  the  loveli- 
ness of  one,  on  whose  moral  beauty  he  had  so  long  indulged 
such  rapturous  musings.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake,  to 
think  this  an  illusion,  which  a  few  years  of  reality  would  dis- 
pel. The  celebrated  Hopkins,  who  came  to  study  theology 
at  Northampton  when  she  was  the  mother  of  seven  children, 
pronounced  her  beautiful.  Still  more  would  she  appear  so 
to  her  husband.  Beauty  loses  its  power,  only  when  expe- 
rience proves  it  to  be  a  cheat,  and  shows  that  the  soul  is  not, 
as  was  expected,  fit  to  dwell  in  the  lovely  form  which  it  ani- 
mates. Edwards  had  made  no  such  discovery.  His  wife 
had  always  been  to  him,  all  that  his  young  imagination  had 
promised.  He,  therefore,  would  be  the  last  man  to  perceive 
that  the  more  unimportant  part,  the  outward  sign  of  her  love- 
liness, had  begun  to  fade.  He  was,  while  he  lived, — as 
the  Bible  required  him  to  be,  —  "ravished  always  with  her 
love."     If  any  thing  had  been  wanting  to  complete  his  rav- 


228  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ishment,  her  devoted  attachment  to  him  must  have  supplied 
the  deficiency. 

Mrs.  Edwards  continued  to  enjoy,  after  her  marriage,  and 
at  least  till  the  time  of  this  awakening,  those  occasional  visits 
of  the  "  Great  Being,  who  made  and  rules  the  world,"  with 
which  she  had  been  favored  in  her  childhood  ;  especially 
near  the  close  of  1738,  in  the  summer  of  1740,  and  again  in 
January,  1742,  —  of  which  last,  at  her  husband's  request, 
she  wrote  a  particular  account.  *  At  these  seasons,  her 
views  of  spiritual  objects  appear  to  have  been  most  delightful, 
and  absolutely  overpowering.  Of  their  "  very  great  effects 
on  tlie  body,"  Edwards  mentions,  "nature  often  sinking 
under  the  weight  of  divine  discoveries,  the  strength  of  the 
body  being  taken  away,  so  as  to  deprive  of  all  ability  to  stand 
or  speak  ;  sometimes  the  hands  clenched,  and  the  flesh  cold, 
but  the  senses  still  remaining  ;  animal  nature  often  in  a  great 
emotion  and  agitation,  and  the  soul  very  often,  of  late,  so 
overcome  with  great  admiration  and  a  kind  of  omnipotent 
joy,  as  to  cause  the  person,  (wholly  unavoidably,)  to  leap 
with  all  the  might,  with  joy  and  mighty  exultation  of  soul  ; 
the  soul  at  the  same  time  being  so  drawn  towards  God  and 
Christ  in  heaven,  that  it  seemed  to  the  person  as  though  soul 
and  body  would,  as  it  were  of  themselves,  of  necessity 
mount  up,  leave  the  earth,  and  ascend  thither."  Edwards 
testifies  expressly  and  minutely,  that  these  visitations  were 
followed  by  manifest  improvement  in  practical  holiness. 

The  influence  of  these  things  on  his  opinions  is  not  a  matter 
of  mere  conjecture.  A  great  part  of  her  account  of  her  ex- 
ercises in  January,  1742,  he  transcribed,  partially  changing 
the  phraseology,  concealing  the  name  and  even  the  sex  of 
the  person,  and  adding  some  particulars  from  his  own  knowl- 
edge, into  his  "  Thoughts  on  the  Revival  of  Religion  in 
New  England  ;  "  where  he  used  it  to  prove  that  the  influence 
which  produced  such  bodily  effects  was  good,  and  of  salutary 
tendency.  Thus  we  have  his  own  word  for  it,  that  what  he 
saw  in  her,  helped  to  give  him,  or  at  least  to  confirm  him  in, 
the  views  which  he  entertained  concerning  these  "  extraordi- 
naries."  What  he  saw  in  her,  in  connexion  with  her  holiest 
and  most  improving  exercises,  he  could  not  but  view  with 
some  partiality,  when  he  saw  it  occur  as  a  result  of  his  own 

"  It  may  be  found  in  Dwight's  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  170. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENIiNG.  229 

most  faithful  labors,  or  heard  of  it  as  occurring  under  the 
labors  of  some  of  the  best  men  in  the  land.  He  did  not  re- 
gard these  outcries,  faintings,  and  the  like,  "  as  certain  evi- 
dences of  a  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  on  the  hearts'^  of 
men,  nor  esteem  them  "to  be  the  work  of  God,  as  though 
the  Spirit  of  God  took  hold  of  and  agitated  the  bodies  of 
men  ; "  nor  did  he  know  any  who  held  such  views.  But  he 
avowed  his  belief  that  they  were  "  probable  tokens  of  God's 
presence,  and  arguments  of  the  success  of  preaching.  And 
therefore,"  he  said,  "  when  I  see  them  excited  by  preaching 
the  important  truths  of  God's  word,  urged  and  enforced  by 
proper  arguments  and  motives,  or  consequent  on  other  means 
that  are  good,  I  do  not  scruple  to  speak  of  them,  and  to  re- 
joice in  them,  and  to  bless  God  for  them,  as  such.  I  confess 
that  when  I  see  a  great  crying  out  in  a  congregation,  in  the 
manner  that  I  have  seen  it,  when  those  things  are  held  forth 
to  them  that  are  worthy  of  their  being  greatly  affected  by,  I 
rejoice  in  it,  much  more  than  in  an  appearance  of  solemn  at- 
tention and  a  show  of  affection  by  weeping ;  and  that,  be- 
cause when  there  have  been  those  outcries,  I  have  found  from 
time  to  time  a  much  greater  and  more  excellent  effect.  To 
rejoice  that  the  work  of  God  is  carried  on  calmly,  without 
much  ado,  is  in  effect  to  rejoice  that  it  is  carried  on  with  less 
power,  or  that  there  is  not  so  much  of  the  influence  of  God's 
Spirit.  For  though  the  degree  of  the  influence  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  on  particular  persons  is  by  no  means  to  be  judged  of 
by  the  degree  of  external  appearances,  because  of  the  differ- 
ent constitutions,  tempers  and  circumstances  of  men  ;  yet,  if 
there  be  a  very  powerful  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  on 
a  mixed  multitude,  it  will  cause,  some  way  or  other,  a  great 
visible  commotion."  Some  thought,  that  "when  any  in  a 
congregation  are  strongly  seized,  so  that  they  cannot  forbear 
outward  manifestations  of  it,  they  should  be  removed,  that 
others'  minds  may  not  be  diverted."  He  thought  otherwise. 
"  The  unavoidable  manifestations  of  strong  religious  affec- 
tions tend  to  a  happy  influence  on  the  minds  of  bystanders, 
and  are  found  by  experience  to  have  an  excellent  and  durable 
effect  ;  and  so  to  contrive  and  order  things  that  others  may 
have  opportunity  and  advantage  to  observe  them,  has  been 
found  to  be  blessed,  as  a  great  means  to  promote  the  work  of 
God."  * 


The  ancient  Romans  decided  a  similar  question  more  judiciously.    They 
20 


230  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Such  opinions,  coming  from  such  a  man,  could  not  fail  to 
produce  a  vast  increase  of  "  these  bodily  effects."  They 
made  preachers  more  willing  to  see  ihem,  and  people  more 
willing  to  suffer  them.  They  promoted  a  state  of  mind,  in 
which  unintelligent  excitement  produced  a  fearful  harvest  of 
mistake,  extravagance,  and  false  conversions.  It  was  proba- 
bly well  that  another  influence  hastened  the  evil  to  a  crisis  ; 
but  of  that  in  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Davenport. —  His  Rise,  Progress,  Excesses,  Recovery,  and  "  Retracta- 
tions." —  His  posthumous  influence.  —  The  Eleventh  Congregational 
Church  in  Boston.  —  Note,  on  the  Catastrophe  of  Hugh  Bryau. 

Repeated  mention  has  been  made,  in  the  course  of  this 
history,  of  the  Rev.  James  Davenport,  of  Southold,  Long 
Island.  He  was  a  favorite  of  Whitefield,  who  met  him  in  . 
New  Jersey,  and  had  stood  high  in  the  opinion  of  the  Ten- 
nents.  The  Rev.  Andrew  Croswell,  in  a  pamphlet  in  his 
defence,  produced  numerous  testimonies  in  his  favor  ;  for  ex- 
ample :  —  "  Mr.  Whitefield  declared  in  conversation,  that  he 
never  knew  one  keep  so  close  a  walk  with  God  as  Mr.  Da- 
venport. Mr.  Tennent,  in  my  hearing,  affirmed  Mr.  Daven- 
port to  be  one  of  the  most  heavenly  men  he  ever  was  acquaint- 
ed with.  Mr.  Pomroy,  who  is  acquainted  with  both,  thinks 
he  doth  not  come  one  whit  behind  Mr.  Whitefield,  but  rather 
goes  beyond  him,  for  heavenly  communion  and  fellowship 
with  the  Father  and  with  the  Son  Jesus  Christ.  Mr.  Par- 
sons of  Lyme  told  me  the  other  day,  [this  was  July  16, 
1742,]  that  not  one  minister  whom  he  had  seen,  was  to  be 

had  observed  that  the  excitement  of  the  Comitia,  or  public  meetings  of  the 
citizens  for  the  election  of  officers  and  other  purposes,  sometimes  produced 
•'  seizures"  of  this  kind,  and  that  when  one  fell  and  was  convulsed,  the 
eight  threw  others  into  similar  convulsions.  These  "  seizures"  were  called 
the  "  Morbus  Coinitialis,"  or,  as  we  should  say,  if  they  appeared  at  such 
of  our  meetings  as  most  resemble  the  Comitia,  "  the  Convention  distem- 
per." Their  occurrence  was  not  thought  favorable  to  the  safe  transaction 
of  public  business  ;  and  it  was  made  a  standing  rule,  that  whenever  one 
was  seized,  the  Comitia  should  immediately  adjourn. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  231 

compared  to  Mr.  Davenport  for  living  near  to  God,  and 
having  his  conversation  always  in  heaven.  *  Mr.  Owen, 
also,  of  Groton,  said  that  the  idea  he  had  of  the  apostles 
themselves  scarcely  exceeded  what  he  saw  in  Mr.  Daven- 
port. In  brief,  there  is  not  one  minister  in  all  Connecticut 
that  is  zealously  affected  in  the  good  cause  of  God  at  this 
day,  but  instead  of  slighting  him,  is  apt  to  think  more  highly 
of  him  than  we  ought  to  think  of  men,  and  to  receive  him 
almost  as  if  he  was  an  angel  from  heaven."  This  is  the 
statement  of  an  honest  partisan,  —  so  far  as  a  partisan  can  be 
honest  ;  not  false,  but  too  highly  colored.  Davenport  had 
certainly  produced  wonderful  effects,  and  collected  a  large  trib- 
ute of  veneration.  He  rode,  —  to  use  language  of  a  more 
modern  date,  —  "on  the  very  top  wave  of  the  spirit  of 
the  age."  More  than  any  other  man,  he  embodied  in 
himself  and  promoted  in  others,  all  the  unsafe  extravagances 
into  which  the  revival  was  running  ;  and  those  whose  zeal  out- 
ran their  knowledge,  saw  in  him,  what  they  proudly  hoped 
soon  to  become.  In  admiring  the  "  spirit  of  the  age,"  as 
it  appeared  in  him,  men  admired  their  own  spirit,  full  grown. 
Such  a  man  could  not  fail  to  have  a  popularity,  violent  in  his 
favor  and  vindictive  against  all  opposers.  As  he  went  fore- 
most in  the  wrong  direction  which  the  revival  had  begun  to 
take,  he  was  regarded  by  multitudes  as  its  model  man,  by 
comparison  with  whom  all  others  were  to  be  judged.  As 
appears  from  the  concurrent  testimony  of  all  parties,  his  influ- 
ence, mainly,  brought  the  revival  to  a  crisis.  He  led  it  so 
deeply  into  such  errors,  that  it  ought  to  stop,  and  provoked 
the  opposition  which  brought  it  to  an  end.  A  knowledge  of 
his  character  and  proceedings  is  therefore  of  the  first  impor- 
tance to  one  who  would  understand  the  history  of  his  times  ; 
and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  not  as  full  and  minute 
accounts  of  his  whole  life,  as  we  have  of  some  parts  of  it. 
It  is  also  to  be  regretted,  that  nearly  all  we  have,  except  in- 
definite praise,  comes  to  us  through  his  decided  opponents. 
Still  it  seems  possible,  by  omitting  all  facts  concerning  which 
prejudice  might  mislead  the  witnesses,  to  make  out  a  well 
authenticated  history  of  his  proceedings,  sufficiently  com- 
plete to  show  their  true  character. 

For  an  account  of  the  commencement  of  his  career,  we 

*  Parsons,  however,  did  not  approve  of  all  his  measures,  as  appears  by  his 
own  statements. 


232  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

are  indebted  to  the  Rev.  William  Hart,  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  in  Saybrook.  Mr.  Hart  appears  to  have  been  a 
man  of  good  character,  moderately  Calvinistic,  and  had  been 
condemned  by  Davenport  as  unconverted.  He  learned  many 
of  the  particulars  from  Davenport  himself,  and  others  in 
Southold,  which  he  visited,  perhaps  for  that  very  purpose. 
The  account  was  addressed  to  Dr.  Chauncy,  and  appears  in 
his  work  on  the  "  State  of  Religion  in  New  England." 

It  seems,  that  when  the  reports  concerning  Whitefield's 
labors  and  success  first  reached  Long  Island,  both  Davenport 
and  Barber,  of  Oyster  Ponds,  "received  him  as  an  angel  of 
God,"  and  were  confident  that  a  glorious  revival  of  religion 
was  about  to  pervade  the  land.  They  betook  themselves  to 
special  prayer,  that  God  would  hasten  the  work,  teach  them 
what  he  was  about  to  do,  and  make  them  eminent  instruments 
in  promoting  it.  From  their  subsequent  career,  it  appears 
neither  unreasonable  nor  uncharitable  to  suppose  that  their 
prayers  were  inspired,  in  part  by  a  sincere  zeal  for  God  and 
for  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  in  part  by  pleasing  visions  of 
their  own  future  greatness,  as  "  eminent  instruments  of  its 
promotion  ;"  though  of  this  last  element  of  their  feelings,  they 
probably  were  not  aware.  After  some  time,  the  words  in 
Habakkuk  2  :  3,  —  "  For  the  vision  is  yet  for  an  appointed 
time,  but  at  the  end  it  shall  speak  and  shall  not  lie  :  though 
it  tarry,  wait  for  it ;  because  it  will  surely  come,  it  will  not 
tarry,"  were  strongly  impressed  on  Barber's  mind  ;  which  he 
took  as  a  divine  intimation  that  their  expectations  should  be 
fulfilled.  He  informed  Davenport  of  the  impression,  on 
whom  it  had  a  similar  effect.  Soon  after,  —  it  must  have 
been  about  the  beginning  of  March,  1740,  —  Barber  sat  up 
all,  or  nearly  all,  of  Saturday  night,  meditating  on  these  things; 
and  at  family  worship  the  next  morning,  as  he  was  reading  Ps. 
102,  the  13th  verse  was  impressed  upon  his  mind.  The 
words  are,  "  Thou  shalt  arise  and  have  mercy  upon  Zion  ; 
for  the  time  to  favor  her,  yea,  the  set  time,  is  come."  This 
he  took  as  an  intimation  from  heaven  that  the  great  revival 
which  he  had  been  expecting,  should  immediately  commence, 
and  as  an  order  to  begin  his  labors  without  delay.  He  faint- 
ed ;  but  recovered  so  as  to  attend  public  worship  at  the  usu- 
al hour.  He  spent  about  a  week  in  visiting  and  exhorting 
his  people,  telling  of  the  wonderful  discoveries  that  God  had 
made  to  him,  and  how  he  had  fainted  at  the  vision. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  233 

He  then  left  Oyster  Ponds,  to  go  forth  and  proclaim  the 
gospel  abroad.  Intending  to  obey  a  scriptural  direction,  he 
took  no  money,  nor  change  of  apparel,  nor  yet  shoes,  but  was 
shod  with  boots.  He  declared  that  he  had  laid  aside  all  pre- 
meditation, being  taught  on  every  occasion  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  what  he  should  say,  and  where  he  should  go.  He 
came  first  to  Davenport,  at  Southold,  whose  mind  had  been 
impressed  with  the  words  of  Psalm  115  :  12  — 14  :  "•  The 
Lord  hath  been  mindful  of  us  :  he  will  bless  us  :  he  will 
bless  the  house  of  Israel  :  he  will  bless  the  house  of  Aaron  : 
he  will  bless  them  that  fear  the  Lord,  both  small  and  great. 
The  Lord  shall  increase  you  more  and  more,  you  and  your 
children."  Davenport  assembled  his  people,  and  Barber 
addressed  them  in  his  usual  style.  After  visiting  all  parts  of 
Southold,  Barber  went  about  twenty  miles,  to  Oldmans. 
Having  delivered  his  message  here,  he  ceased  to  receive  the 
usual  directions  as  to  his  course,  and  could  do  nothing 
"  while  the  cloud  abode  upon  the  tabernacle."  He  refused 
to  preach  when  requested.  Some  of  his  own  people  visited 
him,  to  urge  his  return  ;  but  in  vain.  Here  he  remained  in 
idleness  for  several  months,  till  he  grew  fat  and  ragged.  At 
length,  after  a  few  excursions  in  the  vicinity,  he  returned  to 
Oyster  Ponds,  and  soon  proceeded  to  Rhode  Island,  to  meet 
Whitefield.  The  account  of  their  meeting  has  already  been 
given,  in  Whitefield's  own  words.  Whitefield  took  him  to 
Georgia,  and  made  him  superintendent  of  spiritual  affairs  in 
his  orphan  house. 

After  Barber's  visit  to  Southold,  Davenport  commenced 
his  extraordinary  labors,  but  at  first,  only  among  his  own  peo- 
ple. He  assembled  them  at  his  lodgings,  and  addressed 
them  for  almost  twenty-four  hours  together.  The  effort 
overcame  his  strength,  and  he  was  confined  for  several  days 
to  his  chamber.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  febrile  state  of 
body  which  afterwards  certainly  affected  the  soundness  of 
his  mind,  had  already  commenced.  His  church  seems  to 
have  been,  like  many  others,  in  a  bad  condition,  containing 
many  unconverted  members.  At  least,  he  thought  so,  and 
began  to  make  distinctions  accordingly  in  his  public  treatment 
of  them,  calling  those  whom  he  esteemed  regenerate. 
*'  brother,"  and  the  others,  "neighbour."  He  soon  forbade 
the  "  neighbours"  to  come  to  the  Lord's  table.  This  pro- 
duced no  little  excitement ;  but,  as  he  believed,  the  divine 
20* 


234  THE  GREAT  AWAKEiNING. 

blessing  attended  his  preaching  and  measures,  and  about 
twenty  of  his  people  were  converted.  He  came  very  near 
attempting  to  work  a  miracle.  A  woman  in  an  adjoining 
parish  had  been  long  insane,  and  for  some  time  dumb. 
Davenport  fasted  and  prayed  for  her  recovery,  and  gave  out 
that  she  would  recover  on  a  certain  day  that  he  named.  On 
that  day,  she  died.  He  claimed  the  event  as  an  answer  to 
his  prayer,  as  she  was  relieved  from  her  infirmity  by  being 
taken  to  heaven.  This  was  in  the  summer  of  1740  ;  not  far 
from  the  time  when  Whitefield  saw  him  in  INevv  Jersey,  and 
was  so  much  pleased  with  his  piety. 

Of  the  commencement  of  his  itinerations,  the  date  is  want- 
ing ;  but  we  have  his  own  account  of  the  principal  facts,  as 
he  related  them  to  the  Boston  pastors  in  1742.  One  of  his 
brethren  proposed  to  him  to  go  forth  and  preach  beyond  the 
bounds  of  his  own  parish  ;  but  he  made  no  reply  at  the  time  ; 
not  knowing  the  will  of  the  Lord  concerning  it.  He,  how- 
ever, made  it  a  subject  of  prayer  ;  and  after  some  time,  on 
opening  his  Bible,  though  he  had  no  thought  of  turning  to 
that  passage,  his  eye  fell  on  the  account  of  the  attack  which 
Jonathan  and  his  armor-bearer  made  on  the  Philistines.  As 
he  read,  he  saw  every  line,  every  word,  in  a  new  light. 
The  Lord  caused  it  to  make  a  strong  impression  on  his  mind. 
As  Jonathan  and  his  armor-bearer  went  to  the  camp  of 
the  Philistines,  so  the  Lord  called  him  and  the  man  just 
mentioned  to  go  to  Easthampton,  where  they  should  con- 
vert as  many  as  Jonathan  and  his  armor-bearer  slew  ;  but  as 
Jonathan  had  a  sign,  —  that  he  should  not  attack  the  garrison 
unless  the  Philistines  called  him,  "come  up  hither,"  —  so 
he  must  wait  till  he  was  invited  to  Easthampton.  At  length, 
some  of  the  people  in  Easthampton  said  they  should  like  to 
have  him  come  and  preach  to  them.  He  went,  with  his 
friend  before  mentioned,  up  to  their  knees  in  snow,  as  Jona- 
than and  his  armor-bearer  climbed  up  the  hill  to  the  Philis- 
tines, on  their  hands  and  knees.  The  result  was  according  to 
their  expectation,  for  twenty  were  converted.  This  same 
man  generally  accompanied  him  in  his  future  itinerations,  and 
was  called  by  Davenport  and  by  others  throughout  the  coun- 
try, his  armor-bearer. 

The  reader  must  not  set  aside  this  account  as  a  carica- 
ture. True,  Dr.  Chauncy  was  the  reporter  ;  but  Davenport 
told  the  story  in   the  presence  of  at  least  a  dozen  witnesses, 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  235 

ministers  of  Boston  and  Charlestown,  many  of  whom  were 
staunch  friends  and  active  promoters  of  the  revival ;  so  that 
Chauncy  could  not  have  dared  materially  to  alter  the  facts, 
even  if  he  had  been  wicked  enough  to  desire  it.  And  the 
facts  are  of  such  a  character,  that  no  choice  of  language  can 
essentially  change  their  appearance. 

In  June,  1740,  during  the  session  of  the  Presbyterian  Sy- 
nod, we  find  him  at  Philadelphia,  preaching  at  Society  Hill, 
with  the  Tennents  and  others. 

Tn  the  autumn,  he  joined  Whitefield,  who  wrote  in  his 
Journal,  October  30,  on  arriving  at  New  York  : —  "  To  add 
to  my  comfort,  the  Lord  brought  my  dear  brother  Davenport 
from  Long  Island,  by  whose  hands  the  blessed  Jesus  has  of 
late  done  great  things."  Having  parted,  they  met  again,  No- 
vember 5,  at  Baskinridge,  New  Jersey,  where  Davenport  had 
been  preaching  to  Mr.  Cross'  parishioners.  From  this  place, 
they  travelled  together  towards  Philadelphia.  Here  we  lose 
sight  of  him  till  the  next  spring  or  summer. 
■  It  was  on  or  near  the  14th  of  July,  1741,*  that  Daven- 
port came  from  Long  Island  to  Stonington,  Connecticut. 
Here,  it  was  said,  near  one  hundred  persons  were  struck 
under  conviction  by  his  first  sermon,  and  about  that  number 
converted  in  eight  days,  including  about  twenty  Indians  ;  and 
that  many  were  left  under  "hopeful  convictions."  From 
Stonington,  he  visited  Westerley,  Rhode  Island.  Of  his 
labors  there,  a  favorable  account,  by  Park,  the  missionary, 
has  been  given  in  a  preceding  chapter.  The  history  of 
subsequent  years  shows  that  a  considerable  part  of  these  sup- 
posed conversions  among  the  Indians  were  genuine.  In 
many  of  the  towns  in  that  region,  he  condemned  the  minis- 
ters as  unconverted,  and  exhorted  their  people  to  leave  them. 
Among  those  whom  he  condemned,  was  the  venerable  Eli- 
phalet  Adams,  of  Windham,  Connecticut,  whose  faithful 
labors  had  been  a  principal  means  of  preserving  the  flame  of 
piety  in  that  region  from  extinction,  and  under  whom  there 
had  been  a  happy  revival  in  1721,  the  period  of  deepest 
darkness  in  New  England.  Here  his  influence  in  producing 
alienations  and  divisions  is  said  to  have  been  peculiarly  un- 
happy, though  no  particulars  are  given  ;  and  the  report  of  the 
injustice  done  to  a  man  so  extensively  known  and  revered,  and 

*  Boston  Postboy,  Aug.  10,  1741.     Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Lib. 


236  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

of  the  injury  done  to  his  people,  produced  a  deep  sensation 
throughout  the  country.  At  Lyme  he  was  received  with  a 
qualified  approbation  by  Parsons  and  Griswold,  but  produced 
no  very  remarkable  effects. 

On  the  25th  of  August,  he  called  on  Mr.  Hart,  of  Say- 
brook,  and  asked  if  he  was  willing  that  he  should  preach  in  his 
pulpit.  Mr.  Hart,  before  answering,  asked  him  if  it  was  his 
practice,  as  reported,  publicly  to  condemn  n)inisters  as  un- 
converted. He  replied  that  it  was.  Mr.  Hart  asked,  on 
what  evidence  he  condemned  them.  Instead  of  answering 
that  question,  he  stated  the  object  for  which  he  did  it,  — 
which  was,  for  the  purification  of  the  churches,  and  the  dis- 
covery of  the  unconverted,  that  they  might  be  avoided.  In 
answer  to  other  questions,  he  avowed  that  he  encouraged  the 
establishment  of  separate  meetings  of  the  converted,  and  thf; 
labors  of  itinerant  exhorters.  After  a  vain  attempt  to  procure 
some  concession  from  him,  Mr.  Hart  refused  him  the  use  oi 
his  pulpit.  He  then  said  to  his  attendants,  —  "  Come,  let  us 
go  forth  without  the  camp,  after  the  Lord  Jesus,  bearing  his 
reproach.  O,  'tis  pleasant  to  suffer  reproach  for  the  blessed 
Jesus  !  Sweet  Jesus  !"  The  next  day,  four  ministers,  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  Worthington,  Nott,  Beckwith  and  Hart,  called 
upon  him,  to  converse  with  him  on  his  mode  of  proceeding  ; 
but  it  was  found  impossible  to  converse  with  him.  He  com- 
menced a  vehement  discourse  to  them,  and  would  not  be  in- 
terrupted ;  lecturing  them  as  unconverted  men,  blind  guides, 
wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,  and  the  like  ;  then  offered  a 
prayer,  partly  for  their  conversion  and  partly  against  them  ; 
and  then  left  them,  to  attend  a  meeting  which  he  had  appoint- 
ed, refusing  to  decide  whether  he  would  grant  them  an  inter- 
view at  any  future  time.  He  had  given  out,  before  his  ar- 
rival., that  he  had  a  great  work  to  do  at  Saybrook  ;  but  the 
event  seems  to  have  fallen  short  of  his  expectation. 

He  continued  his  course  to  New  Haven,  calling  on  minis- 
ters by  the  way,  demanding  of  each  an  account  of  his  reli- 
gious experience,  and  condemning  all  who  refused  to  give  it, 
or  whose  accounts  were  unsatisfactory,  or  who  in  any  way 
opposed  his  movements,  as  unconverted.  He  seems  to  have 
considered  himself  specially  commissioned  for  this  work  ;  for 
he  declared  at  Stonington,  that  God  had  protnised  to  call  a 
number  of  unconverted  ministers,  by  impressing  on  his  mind 
the  words,   "  He  will  bless  the  house  of  Aaron." 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  237 

He  arrived  at  New  Haven  in  September.  Here  a  general 
revival  had  commenced  the  preceding  winter,  and  its  influ- 
ence still  remained.  His  descent  from  the  famous  John  Da- 
venport, the  first  pastor  of  that  church,  his  consanguinity 
with  several  respectable  families,  and  especially  his  reputation 
for  uncommon  sanctity  and  usefulness,  procured  him  a  favor- 
able reception.  Mr.  Noyes,  the  pastor  of  the  church,  ad- 
mitted him  to  his  pulpit,  and  there  appears  to  have  been  no 
visible  opposition,  till  he  pronounced  Mr.  Noyes  an  uncon- 
verted man.  On  this,  Mr.  Noyes  called  a  meeting  of  several 
friends,  September  21,  among  whom  were  the  principal  offi- 
cers of  Yale  College,  to  whom  Davenport  gave  some  very 
frivolous  reasons  for  believing  that  Mr.  Noyes  was  unconverted. 
The  result  was,  that  he  was  thenceforth  excluded  from  the 
pulpit.  How  long  he  continued  there,  is  uncertain  ;  but  after 
his  departure,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year,  his  followers 
organized  a  separate  church,  which,  after  several  years  of 
controversy,  numerous  councils,  and  some  confessions,  came 
to  be  acknowledged  as  a  regular  church,  and  still  subsists  and 
flourishes.*  AVhile  here,  there  were  a  few  instances  of  tran- 
ces and  visions  among  his  adherents.  He  probably  spent 
the  winter  at  Southold. 

Among  those  who  suffered  temporary  injury  from  the  in- 
fluence of  his  labors  at  New  Haven,  the  celebrated  mission- 
ary, David  Brainerd,  ought  probably  to  be  mentioned. 
Brainerd  dated  his  conversion  from  July  12,  1739.  He  be- 
came a  member  of  Yale  College  in  September  of  that  year. 
During  the  revival  of  1741,  he  "was  much  quickened," 
and  used  to  meet  frequently  with  a  few  religious  friends,  for 
unreserved  and  confidential  religious  intercourse.  In  the 
winter  of  1742,  a  woman  told  President  Clapp,  that  a 
Freshman  told  her,  that  he  heard  Brainerd  say  of  some- 
body, "  He  has  no  more  grace  than  this  chair  ;"  and  he  guess- 
ed that  Brainerd  was  speaking  of  some  of  the  Faculty.  The 
words  had  been  uttered  in  the  Hall,  where  Brainerd  and  two 
or  three  others  of  his  religious  circle  were  conversing,  and 
the  listener  was  in  an  adjoining  room.  Clapp  sent  for  the 
Freshman,  ascertained  who  were  conversing  with  Brainerd, 
called  them,  and  extorted  from  them  the  fact,  that  the  words 
were  used  in  reply  to  a  question,   "What  do  you  think  of 

*  Bacon's  Historical  Discourses. 


238  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

tutor  Whittelsey  ?"  Mr.  Whiltelsey  was  a  man  whose  piety 
there  was  no  good  reason  to  question.  Brainerd  deserved  to 
be  privately  reprimanded,  and  made  to  confess  his  fault  be- 
fore those  who  heard  him  commit  it.  But  he  v^as  required 
to  make  a  public  confession.  Disgusted  with  the  harshness 
of  the  sentence,  and  with  the  meanness  of  thus  ferreting  out 
a  private  conversation,  he  refused,  was  expelled  from  Col- 
lege, and,  though  powerful  influence  was  used  in  his  favor, 
never  permitted  to  rejoin  his  class.  He  had  also  once  at- 
tended a  meeting  of  the  Separatists,  when  forbidden  by  the 
Rector  ;  and  it  was  reported,  but  not  proved,  thai  he  had  said 
he  wondered  the  Rector  did  not  expect  to  drop  down  dead, 
for  fining  the  scholars  who  followed  Mr.  Tennent  to  Milford. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  that  he  was  guilty  of  improprieties 
of  which  we  have  no  account  ;  for  he  afterwards  burned  his 
diary  for  thirteen  months,  including  the  time  of  his  expulsion, 
"  inserting  a  notice  at  the  beginning  of  the  succeeding  manu- 
scripts, that  a  specimen  of  his  manner  of  living  during  that 
entire  period  would  be  found  in  the  first  thirty  pages  next 
following,  except  that  he  was  now  more  refined  from  some 
imprudences  and  indecent  heats  than  before."  *  He  died, 
October  9,  1747.  Edwards  thought  him  less  careful  of  life 
and  health,  than  duty  required  ;  and  the  inquiry  deserves  at- 
tention, how  far  the  false  views  of  duty  into  which  this  revi- 
val led  him,  and  which  led  him  into  "  imprudences  and  inde- 
cent heats,"  continued  to  influence  him,  and  hurried  him  to 
his  grave.  The  question  derives  additional  interest,  from  the 
failures  of  health  of  foreign  missionaries,  in  about  the  same 
length  of  time  from  the  great  revivals  of  1831-  1834. 

On  the  29th  f  of  May,  1742,  two  persons,  Captain  Black- 
latch  and  Samuel  Adams,  of  Ripton  parish,  in  Stratford, 
Connecticut,  can)e  to  Hartford,  where  the  General  Assembly 
was  in  session,  and  filed  their  complaint  with  the  Secretary, 
stating  that  James  Davenport  had  arrived  there  about  ten 
days  before,  and  Benjamin  Pomroy  soon  after,  and  that,  with 
certain  illiterate  persons,  [exhorters,]  they  were  collecting  as- 
semblies of  people,  mostly  children  and  youth,  and,  under 
pretence  of  religious  exercises,  were  inflaming  them  with  a 

•  Edwards'  Life  of  Brainerd. 

f  Boston  News  Letter,  No.  lf)!)7.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Li- 
brary. This  date  is  nearly  obliterated  ;  but  appears  to  be  the  29th,  which 
corresponds  well  with  the  other  parts  of  the  account. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  239 

bad  spirit,  and  with  doctrines  subversive  of  all  law  and  order  ; 
by  which  the  peace  of  the  town  was  greatly  disturbed.  A 
warrant  was  therefore  issued,  and  Davenport  and  Pomroy 
were  brought  before  the  Assembly  on  the  first  of  June.  The 
investigation  of  the  case  occupied  a  considerable  part  of  two 
days.  It  appeared  from  the  testimony,  that  he  preached, 
prayed  and  exhorted  with  even  more  than  his  usual  vehe- 
mence of  language  and  gesture,  denounced  ministers  as  un- 
converted without  reserve,  and  urged  the  duty  of  all  to  sus- 
tain "the  work,"  in  defiance  even  of  the  commands  of  par- 
ents or  the  laws  of  the  colony.  The  x\ssembly,  at  this  very 
session,  had  enacted  a  law  "For  regulating  abuses,  and  cor- 
recting disorders,  in  ecclesiastical  afi^airs."  This  law  was  in- 
tended to  repress,  by  civil  penalties,  the  practices  of  itiner- 
ants and  exhorters.  It  was  a  high-handed  infringement  of 
the  rights  of  conscience,  and  in  a  few  years  fell,  and  buried 
the  party  which  enacted  it  in  its  ruins.  This  was  the  law 
which  he  exhorted  his  hearers  to  set  at  defiance  ;  and  sel- 
dom, it  must  be  acknowledged,  has  a  more  plausible  occasion 
been  found  in  New  England,  for  preaching  disregard  of  law. 
He  also  professed  to  have  been  taught  by  the  Spirit,  that 
the  end  of  the  world  was  near.  He  knew  not  the  exact 
time,  but  it  was  very  near. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  day  of  his  examination,  when  the 
Assembly  adjourned  in  the  evening,  as  the  sheriff  was  con- 
ducting him  to  his  lodgings,  he  stopped  on  the  front  door 
steps  of  the  meetinghouse,  where  the  session  seems  to  have 
been  held,  and  began  to  exhort  the  great  crowd  that  had  col- 
lected. The  sheriff'  took  hold  of  his  sleeve,  to  lead  him 
away.  He  exclaimed,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  somebody's  got 
hold  of  my  sleeve.  Strike  them.  Lord,  strike  them  !" 
Pomroy  cried  out,  "  Take  heed  how  you  do  that  heaven- 
daring  action  !"  Their  partisans  rushed  in  to  resist  the  sher- 
iff. Others  refused  to  aid  him,  when  called  upon.  For  a 
while,  the  crowd  and  the  tumult  increased,  and  it  seemed 
that  the  sheriff  would  be  overpowered  ;  but  taking  advantage 
of  a  little  relaxation  of  the  pressure,  he  effected  his  retreat 
with  his  prisoners  ;  the  disappointed  multitude  saying  as  they 
went,  "  We  will  have  five  to  one  on  our  side  to-morrow." 
A  mob  collected  around  the  gentleman's  house  where  the 
prisoners  were  lodged,  and  it  was  two  hours  before  the  mag- 
istrates could  disperse  it.      Sounds  of  excited  devotion  were 


240  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

heard  in  all  parts  of  the  town,  nearly  all  the  night  ;  and  in 
the  morning,  a  militia  force  of  forty  armed  men  was  ordered 
out,  to  protect  the  Assembly  from  insult  and  interruption. 
This  guard  was  kept  on  duty  till  this  business  was  conclud- 
ed, and  seems  to  have  prevented  any  further  public  dis- 
turbance. 

On  the  third  day  of  June,  which  was  also  the  third  day  of 
these  proceedings,  the  Assembly  decided,  that  "  the  beha- 
viour, conduct,  and  doctrines  advanced  by  the  said  James  Da- 
venport, do,  and  have  a  natural  tendency  to,  disturb  and  de- 
stroy the  peace  and  order  of  this  government.  Yet  it  further 
appears  to  this  Assembly,  that  the  said  Davenport  is  under 
the  influence  of  enthusiastical  impressions  and  impulses,  and 
thereby  disturbed  in  the  rational  faculties  of  his  mind,  and 
therefore  to  be  pitied  and  compassionated,  and  not  to  be 
treated  as  otherwise  he  might  be."  They  therefore  ordered 
him  to  be  sent  home  to  Southold.  On  hearing  their  decis- 
ion, he  said,  "  Though  I  must  go,  I  hope  Christ  will  not, 
but  will  tarry  and  carry  on  his  work  in  this  government,  in 
spite  of  all  the  power  and  malice  of  earth  and  hell."  About 
four  o'clock,  P.  M.  the  sheriff,  with  two  files  of  men  armed 
with  muskets,  conducted  him  to  the  bank  of  the  Connecticut, 
and  put  him  on  board  a  vessel,  the  owner  of  which  agreed  to 
carry  him  to  his  home. 

Pomroy,  who  seemed  "  almost  orderly  and  regular"  in 
comparison,  was  discharged.* 

*  All  these  things,  of  course,  operated  against  the  reputation  of  White- 
field,  who  was  considered  the  most  prominent  leader  in  the  present  excite- 
ment, who  had  so  highly  and  so  publicly  eulogized  Davenport  and  Barber, 
and  who  was  known  himself  to  give  religious  heed  to  impulses,  and  to 
texts  of  Scripture  impressed  upon  his  mind.  Another  story,  which  went 
through  New  England  about  the  same  time,  must  have  increased  the  un- 
favorable impression.  The  reader  will  recollect  Hugh  Bryan,  of  South 
Carolina,  whom  Whitefield  praised  so  highly  in  his  Journal,  and  by  cor- 
recting whose  letter  he  brought  upon  himself  a  prosecution  for  a  libel 
Hugh  at  length  imagined  liimself  a  prophet,  and,  among  other  mad  freaks, 
sent  twenty  closely  written  sheets  of  his  journal,  containing  predictions 
and  the  like,  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  of  the  colonial 
legislature.  It  was  also  rumored,  that  he  was  encamped  in  the  wilderness, 
and  was  gathering  multitudes  of  all  sorts  of  people  about  him,  especially 
negroes  ;  and  that  he  had  even  procured  firearms  to  be  sent  from  Charles- 
ton, for  some  secret  and  dangerous  purpose.  Warrants  were  issued  for  his 
apprehension  ;  but  before  they  could  be  served,  he  discovered  his  delusion, 
and  addressed  a  letter  to  Speaker  Bull  and  the  other  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  confessing  his  errors,  and  asking  pardon.  His  letter 
is  dated  March  1,  1742.  He  begins  :  —  "It  is  with  shame,  intermixed  with 
joy,  that  I  write  you  this.     I   find  that  I  have  presumed,  in  my  zeal  for 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  241 

Davenport  stayed  but  a  short  time  at  Southold.  He  deter- 
mined to  visit  Boston.  He  arrived  at  Charlestown  on  Fri- 
day evening,  June  25.  On  the  Sabbath,  he  attended  public 
worship  in  the  forenoon,  and  partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
In  the  afternoon  he  stayed  at  his  lodgings,  from  an  appre- 
hension that  the  minister  v(^as  unconverted.  This  "  greatly 
alarmed  "  the  ministers  in  the  vicinity  ;  and  well  it  might ; 
for  it  was  an  indication  that  whatever  they  had  heard  against 
him  was  true. 

On  Monday  afternoon,  he  came  to  Boston.  The  associa- 
tion of  ministers  was  then  in  session.  What  was  done,  ap- 
pears from  their  "Declaration  with  regard  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 

God's  glory,  beyond  his  will,  and  that  he  has  suffered  me  to  fall  into  a  de- 
lusion of  Satan,  —  particularly  in  adhering  to  the  impressions  on  my  mind  ; 
thought  not,  to  my  knowledge,  in  my  reflections  and  other  occurrences 
of  my  journal.  This  delusion  I  did  not  discover  till  three  days  past,  when, 
after  many  days'  converse  with  an  invisible  spirit,  whose  precepts  seemed  to 
be  wise,  and  tending  to  the  advancement  of  religion  in  general,  and  of  my 
own  spiritual  welfare  in  particular,  1  found  my  teacher  to  be  a  liar,  and  the 
father  of  lies  ;  which  brought  me  to  a  sense  of  my  error,  and  has  much 
abased  my  soul  with  bitter  reflections  on  the  dishonor  I  have  done  to  God, 
as  well  as  tlie  disquiet  which  I  may  have  occasioned  to  my  country.  Satan, 
till  then,  appeared  to  me  as  an  angel  of  light,  in  his  spiritual  conversation  ; 
but  since  I  have  discovered  his  wiles,  he  has  appeared  a  devil  indeed,  show- 
ing his  rage."  It  seems,  he  still  believed  he  had  been  conversing  with  an 
invisible  spirit.  After  some  details  of  confession,  not  worth  transcribing, 
he  concludes,  and  adds  :  "  P.  S.  May  we  all  keep  close  to  the  law  and  to 
the  testimony  of  our  God,  and  hearken  to  no  other  revelation  for  divine 
truth,  and  watch  and  pray,  that  we  enter  not  into  temptation,  is  a  further 
prayer  of  your  most  unworthy  servant,  H.  Bryan."  This  was  published, 
by  order  of  the  Commons  House  of  Assembly,  passed  March  3,  1742.  As 
published  in  the  Boston  Postboy  of  May  3,  it  was  accompanied  with  a 
statement  on  the  authority  of  his  brother,  —  perhaps  Jonathan,  of  the  means 
by  which  he  was  undeceived.  The  invisible  spirit  bade  him  go,  by  a  di- 
rect course,  and  without  looking  on  the  ground,  to  a  certain  tree,  and  take 
thence  a  rod,  with  which  he  must  smite  the  waters  of  the  river,  and  they 
should  be  divided,  so  that  he  should  go  over  on  dry  ground.  He  started  to 
obey  ;  and  after  several  falls  from  not  looking  at  the  ground,  found  the  tree 
and  procured  the  rod.  With  this  he  began  to  smite  the  river,  and  press 
forward  towards  the  farther  bank,  till  he  was  up  to  his  chin  in  the  water, 
and  his  brother,  who  had  followed  him  as  fast  as  he  could,  but  just  saved 
him  from  drowning.  His  brother  then  urged  him  to  go  home  ;  but  the 
spirit  had  assured  him  that,  if  he  went  home  that  night,  he  should  be  a  dead 
man  before  morning.  However,  the  sharp  weather  and  his  wet  jacket  at 
length  prevailed.  He  went  home  ;  and,  finding  himself  alive  in  the  morn- 
ing, concluded  that  the  spirit,  which  had  lied  to  him  twice,  must  be  the 
"  father  of  lies."  The  account  is  found  in  the  second  edition  of  "A  letter 
from  a  gentleman  in  New  England  to  his  friend  in  Glasgow,"  on  "  the 
state  of  Religion  in  New  England  since  the  Rev.  Mr.  George  Whitefield's 
arrival  there."     O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 

21 


242  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

James  Davenport  and  his  conduct,"  which  was  published  on 
the  first  of  July. 

"We,  the  associated  pastors  of  Boston  and  Charlestown,  in  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England,  being  assembled 
June  28,  in  our  stated  course  of  meeting,  and  being  then  informed 
that  the  Rev.  Mr.  James  Davenport,  pastor  of  the  church  of  Christ  in 
Soutliold,  L.  I.,  was  come  to  town,  sent  two  of  our  brethren  to  inform 
the  said  Mr.  Davenport  that  we  were  then  assembled,  and  should  be 
glad  to  see  him. 

"  Whereupon  he  presently  came  to  us ;  and  after  a  respectful  greet- 
ing, we  desired  him  to  inform  us  of  the  reasons  of  his  leaving  his 
flock  so  often,  and  for  such  length  of  times  as  we  had  heard  of;  as 
also  concerning  his  assuming  behaviour  in  the  places  whither  he  had 
gone  ;  more  especially  in  judging  the  spiritual  state  of  pastors  and 
people,  and  too  positively  and  suddenly  declaring  concerning  one  and 
another,  that  they  were  in  a  converted  or  unconverted  estate  ;  thereby 
stumbling  the  minds  of  many,  and  alienating  the  hearts  of  others  from 
their  ministers  and  brethren,  even  to  such  a  degree  that  some  had 
withdrawn  from  the  ministry  and  communion  to  which  they  belonged. 

"  Whereupon  Mr.  Davenport,  in  a  free  and  ready  manner,  gave  us 
such  an  account  of  the  manner  of  God's  working  upon  him  from  his 
early  days,  and  his  effectual  calling  in  riper  years,  as  that  he  appeared 
to  us  to  be  a  man  truly  pious ;  and  we  hope  that  God  has  used  him  as 
an  instrument  of  good  unto  many  souls. 

"  Nevertheless,  also,  it  appears  to  us,  that  he  is  a  gentleman  acted 
much  by  sudden  impulses,  upon  such  applications  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures to  himself,  and  his  particular  friends,  desires  and  purposes,  as 
we  can  by  no  means  approve  of  or  justify,  but  must  needs  think  very 
dangerous  and  hurtful  to  the  interests  of  religion. 

"  And  in  particular,  by  the  account  he  gave  us  of  his  judging  some 
reverend  ministers  of  the  gospel  on  Long  Island  and  in  New  Eng- 
land to  be  in  an  unconverted  state,  it  did  by  no  means  appear  to  us 
that  he  had  reason  and  righteousness  on  his  side  in  so  doing.  Nor 
do  we  see  into  his  Scripture  warrant  for  thinking  himself  called  of  God 
to  demand  from  his  brethren  from  place  to  place,  an  account  of  their 
regenerate  state,  when  or  in  what  manner  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
■wrought  upon  or  renewed  them. 

"We  judge  also,  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davenport  has  not  acted  pru- 
dently, but  to  the  disservice  of  religion,  by  going  with  his  friends 
singing  through  the  streets  and  high  ways,  to  and  from  the  houses  of 
worship  on  Lord's  days  and  other  days ;  and  by  encouraging  private 
brethren  to  pray  and  exhort  in  larger  or  smaller  assemblies  of  people 
gathered  for  that  purpose  :  a  practice  which  we  fear  may  be  found 
big  with  errors,  irregularities  and  mischiefs. 

"  We  judge  it  therefore  to  be  our  present  duty,  not  to  invite  Mr. 
Davenport  into  our  places  of  public  worship,  as  otherwise  we  might 
readily  have  done,  so  that  we  may  not  appear  to  give  countenance  to 
the  forementioned  errors  and  disorders;  against  which  we  bear  this 
testimony,  both  in  faithfulness,  love  and  care  to  the  churches  of 
Christ,  and  also  to  our  said  brother,  whose  usefulness  in  the  church  is 
likely  to  be  still  more  obstructed  by  his  being  deeply  tinctured  with  a 
epirit  of  enthusiasm. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  243 

"And  though  we  are  not  satisfied  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davenport  lias 
a  call  to  preach  in  the  fields  from  day  to  day,  as  he  has  done  of  late, 
yet  we  tiiink  it  onr  duty  to  bear  a  testimony  against  all  those  disord- 
ers, and  that  profaneness,  which  have  been  promoted  by  any  who 
have  lately  gone  forth  to  hear  him. 

"  Upon  the  whole,  we  humbly  beseech  the  great  Lord  and  Head  of 
the  church,  to  lead  us,  and  all  his  ministers  and  churches,  into  all  the 
paths  of  truth,  righteousness,  peace  and  spiritual  edification,  for  his 
name's  sake.  And  we  take  this  opportunity  to  repeat  our  testimony 
to  the  great  and  glorious  work  of  God,  which  of  his  free  grace  he  has 
begun  and  is  carrying  on  in  many  parts  of  this  and  the  neighbouring 
provinces;  beseeching  him  to  preserve,  defend,  maintain  and  propa- 
gate it,  in  spite  of  all  the  devices  of  Satan  against  it,  of  one  kind  or 
other ;  that,  however  it  may  sufier  by  the  imprudence  of  its  friends,  or 
by  the  virulent  opposition  of  its  enemies,  yet  it  may  stand  as  on 
the  rock,  and  the  gates  of  hell  may  never  prevail  against  it." 

This  was  signed  by  Benjamin  Colman,  Joseph  Sevvall, 
Thomas  Prince,  John  Webb,  WiHiam  Cooper,  Thomas 
Foxcroft,  Samuel  Checkley,  William  Wellsteed,  Joshua 
Gee,  Mather  Byles,  Ellis  Gray  and  Andrew  Eliot,  of  Bos- 
ton, and  by  Hull  Abbot  and  Thomas  Prentice  of  Charles- 
town.  Dr.  Chauncy  appears  to  have  been  present  at  the 
conversations  with  Davenport  ;  but  his  name  is  not  annexed 
to  the  Declaration  ;  probably,  because  he  would  not  sign  any 
paper  containing  testimony  in  favor  of  the  revival. 

It  appears  from  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  that  on  being 
excluded  from  the  pulpits,  Davenport  repaired  to  the  Com- 
mon, where  he  preached  repeatedly,  but  to  decreasing  audi- 
ences. Here,  and  at  Copp's  Hill  and  its  vicinity,*  the  dis- 
orders occurred,  to  which  the  last  paragraph  but  one  of  the 
Declaration  refers. 

"  Upon  publishing  this  Declaration  on  Friday,"  says  Mr. 
Prince, f  "  many  were  offended  :  and,  some  days  after,  Mr. 
Davenport  thought  himself  obliged  to  begin  in  his  public  ex- 
ercises to  declare  against  us  also  ;  naming  some  as  uncon- 
verted, representing  the  rest  as  Jehoshaphat  in  Ahab's  army, 
and  exhorting  the  people  to  separate  from  us  :  which  so  di- 
verted the  minds  of  many  from  being  concerned  about  their 
own  conversion,  to  think  and  dispute  about  the  case  of  oth- 
ers, as  not  only  seemed  to  put  an  awful  stop  to  their  awak- 
enings, but  on  all  sides  to  roil  our  passions  and  provoke  the 
Holy  Spirit,  in  a  gradual  and  dreadful  measure,  to  withdraw 
his  influence. 

*  See  Mr.  Parkman's  account,  append.x  to  Chapter  XII. 
t  Christian  History,  Vol.  II.  p. 408. 


244  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  Now  a  disputatious  spirit  most  grievously  prevailed  amongst 
us  ;  and,  what  almost  ever  attends  it,  much  censoriousness 
and  reflection  ;  which  had  a  further  tendency  to  inflame  and 
alienate,  and  whereof  many  of  every  party  were  sadly  guilty. 
It  was  indeed  a  lamentable  time." 

These  evils  could  not  fail  to  be  aggravated  by  a  "  Reply  " 
to  the  Declaration,  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Cros- 
well,  of  Groton,  Ct.  whose  reply  to  Commissary  Garden 
has  already  been  mentioned.  It  was  dated  at  Groton,  July 
16,  and  printed  at  Boston,  doubtless  without  delay.  On 
reading  the  Declaration,  Croswell  says  :  "  I  was  so  aston- 
ished that  T  could  scarce  believe  my  own  eyes  ;  nor  could 
once  reading  sufficiently  convince  me  that  all  their  names 
were  really  subscribed  to  it."  He  first  notices  what  is  said 
of  Davenport's  absences  from  his  own  parish,  which  he  at- 
tempts to  justify  by  the  examples  of  Whitefield  and  Ten- 
nent.  But  the  cases  were  not  parallel.  Whitefield  first  left 
his  parish  on  their  business,  —  to  take  up  collections  for  their 
benefit  ;  and  when  he  determined  to  continue  his  itinerations, 
he  resigned  his  charge.  The  accusation  had  been  brought 
against  Tennent,  during  his  absence  at  Portsmouth.*  On  his 
return,  he  published  a  reply,  stating  what  arrangements  had 
been  made  before  he  left  home,  for  the  supply  of  his  pulpit 
during  his  absence. f  With  respect  to  Davenport,  the  case 
was  different.  At  an  ecclesiastical  council,  held  at  Southold, 
October  7,  1742,  — about  three  months  after  his  visit  to  Bos- 
ton,— one  of  the  complaints  brought  against  him  by  his  peo- 
ple was,  "  His  leaving  his  congregation,  at  several  times,  for 
a  great  while  together,  at  his  will  and  pleasure,  without  leave 
or  consent  of  the  church  or  society."  And  the  council  said 
in  their  result  :  "  We  think  that  his  congregation  have  just 
cause  to  complain  of  his  leaving  them,  at  several  times,  for 
so  long  a  space  as  he  has  done,  without  their  consent  ; 
whereby  he  has  not  only  left  them  destitute  of  gospel  ordi- 
nances, but  has  been  too  unmindful  of  the  obligation  he  lies 
under  by  his  pastoral  relation,  to  them  who  are  his  peculiar 
charge."  In  fact,  his  only  excuse  was,  some  impression 
upon  his  mind,  which  he  took  to  be  a  command  from  the 
Holy  Ghost  ;  or,  as  he  expressed  it  in  conversation  with  the 
Boston  pastors,   "  The  Lord  sent  me." 

•  Postboy,  Doc.  2=^,  1740. 

i  N.  E.  Weekly  Journal,  Jan  27,  1711,  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  245 

Passir>g  over  some  pages,  we  come  to  a  truly  instructive 
passage. 

"The  Reverend  gentlemen  do  indeed  say  in  the  next  clause,  'that 
they  hope  God  hath  used  him  as  an  instrument  of  doing  good  unto 
many  souls.'  And  why  are  they  not  willing  that  God  should  use  him 
as  an  instrument  of  doing  good  unto  more  souls?  Can  any  thing  be 
more  inconsistent,  than  to  acknowledge  him  to  be  a  man  whom  the 
Lord  delights  to  honor,  and  yet  to  dishonor  him  themselves  at  the 
same  time  ?  To  own  him  to  be  one  God  hath  much  employed  in 
gathering  in  his  elect,  and  yet  in  the  same  breath  give  him  such  a  set- 
ting out  as  tends  to  make  people  run  away  from  him,  and  keep  out 
of  reach  of  his  ministry  ? 

"The  honored  Association  having  been  constrained  to  own  him  to 
be  a  truly  pious  man  and  a  very  useful  minister,  they  go  to  butting 
and  bounding  him  in  tlie  following  manner.  'He  is  a  gentleman,'  they 
say,  '  much  acted  by  sudden  impulses,  upon  application  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  to  himself,'  &c.  To  which  I  reply  :  What  if  he  holds  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  impulses,  which  others  cannot  so  well 
see  through  ;  yet  if  it  appears  plain  that  the  great  God,  who  sends  by 
whom  he  will  send,  improves  him  in  saving  many  souls  from  hell,  each 
of  whom  is  worth  more  than  the  whole  world,  for  God's  sake  let  no 
one  dare  to  do  any  thing  which  hatli  a  tendency  to  render  his  ministry 
contemptible,  lest  they  kick  against  the  pricks,  and  be  found  fighters 
against  God.  But  rather  let  all  who  love  the  prosperity  of  Zion,  wish 
him  God  speed,  and  besiege  the  throne  of  grace  night  and  day,  that 
the  blessings  of  more  souls  ready  to  perish  may  come  upon  him. 
However,  regarding  impressions  is  no  new  thing  peculiar  to  Mr.  Da- 
venport. Those  that  have  walked  most  humbly  with  God,  and  had 
their  affections  the  most  entirely  set  on  things  above,  have  generally 
laid  the  greatest  stress  upon  them.  I  remember  that  Mr.  Whitefield 
looks  upon  the  impression  that  was  occasioned  on  Mr.  Barber's  mind 
by  the  application  of  a  passage  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  himself  and 
Mr.  Whitefield,  to  be  really  from  God.  Nor  have  Mr.  Davenport's 
impressions  done  him  any  harm  as  yet:  and  to  expect  danger  from 
that  quarter,  is  fearing  where  no  fear  is ;  especially  if  we  consider  the. 
uncommon  sanctity  of  the  man,  and  his  trembling  at  the  appearance 
of  evil." 

So  it  is  apt  to  be.  If  a  preacher  appears  zealous,  pre- 
tends uncommon  holiness,  and  succeeds  in  producing  a  con- 
siderable number  of  apparent  conversions,  no  one  must  say  a 
word  to  guard  people  against  the  influence  of  his  errors, 
however  gross  and  dangerous  they  may  be  ;  no  one  may  op- 
pose any  of  his  measures,  be  they  ever  so  unscriptural.,  or 
even  witlihold  his  cooperation,  on  pain  of  being  counted  an 
enemy  of  revivals,  and  hindering  the  work  of  God.  He  may 
denounce  and  slander  whom  he  pleases,  wounding  the  hearts 
and  ruining  the  influence  of  better  men  than  himself;  but  no 

21  * 


246  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

one  may  say  a  word  of  him,  but  by  way  of  commendation, 
lest  it  should  diminish  his  influence. 

It  has  been  said,  by  a  writer  from  whose  opinions  it  is  not 
often  safe  to  dissent,  *  that  this  Declaration  concerning  Da- 
venport was  injudicious,  and  that  if  he  had  been  neglected, 
his  influence  would  have  been  less.  Perhaps  it  would.  It 
is  doubtless  a  general  rule,  that  extravagances  die  soonest  if 
neglected  ;  yet  there  are  exceptions.  There  are  fanatical 
doctrines,  both  in  religion  and  politics,  to  which  a  considera- 
ble part  of  every  community  are  constitutionally  predisposed, 
and  which,  if  zealously  urged  by  a  skilful  agitator,  will  be 
sure  to  take  hold  of  many  minds.  They  would  do  no  harm, 
if  nobody  would  attend  to  them,  just  as  the  smallpox  or  the 
plague  would  do  no  harm  if  none  would  take  the  infection. 
In  either  case,  the  neglect  with  which  the  danger  may  be 
treated  by  the  healthy  and  the  wise,  will  not  save  others  from 
becoming  its  victims  ;  and  in  the  treatment  of  moral  epidem- 
ics, it  requires  great  practical  wisdom  to  know  when  and 
how  their  progress  may  be  checked  by  protests  and  explana- 
tions. The  state  of  men's  minds  at  Boston,  when  Daven- 
port arrived,  may  have  been  such  as  called  for  the  Declara- 
tion which  the  ministers  put  forth  ;  such  that,  had  they  been 
silent,  afl^alrs  would  have  taken  a  still  worse  course  than  they 
did.  Nor  is  it  certain  that  silence  and  neutrality  were  in 
their  power.  Conscientious  agitators,  like  Davenport,  have 
strange  ways  of  making  all  men  take  sides.  Sometimes  they 
assert,  that  a  certain  pastor  is  on  their  side  ;  and  he  must 
contradict  the  assertion,  or  his  whole  flock  will  be  carried 
over  by  this  unauthorized  use  of  his  influence.  Sometimes 
all  who  will  not  actively  cooperate,  are  denounced  as  enemies, 
and  are  obliged  either  to  come  over  publicly  and  avow  them- 
selves friends,  or  be  regarded  and  treated  as  enemies.  When 
such  tactics  are  used,  the  force  of  the  agitating  party  is  com- 
monly brought  to  bear  on  one  man  at  a  time  ;  and  it  may  be 
good  policy  for  those  who  do  not  wish  to  be  conquered,  to 
take  their  stand  early  and  unitedly  in  defence  of  the  truth 
and  of  their  rights  against  the  aggressors.  But  for  this  De- 
claration, Davenport  might,  perhaps,  have  demanded  admis- 
sion to  some  pulpit,  the  occupant  of  which  could  not  safely 
refuse  him  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  without  the  pledged 
support  of  his  brethren.      His  admission  into  one  might  have 

*  Bacon's  Hist.  Discourses. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  247 

increased  the  difficulty  of  excluding  him  from  another.  Thus 
they  might  all  have  been  conquered  in  detail,  and  he  might 
have  used  the  influence  of  the  Boston  pastors  to  commend 
him  and  his  vagaries,  first  to  their  own  people,  and  then  to 
all  other  churches  throughout  the  land. 

But  the  case  was  not  left  to  the  action  of  the  ministers  ~l 
alone.  The  Grand  Jury  took  it  up,  and  in  their  present- 
ment, Thursday,  August  19,  set  forth,  that  "  one  James 
Davenport,  of  Southold,  —  under  pretence  of  praying, 
preaching  and  exhorting,  at  divers  places  in  the  towns  of 
Boston  and  Dorchester,  and  at  divers  times  in  July  last  and 
August  current,  — did,  —  in  the  hearing  of  great  numbers  of 
the  subjects  of  our  Lord,  the  King,  maliciously  publish,  and 
with  a  loud  voice  utter  and  declare  many  slanderous  and 
reviling  speeches  against  the  godly  and  faithful  ministers  of 
this  province,  but  more  particularly  against  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel  in  the  town  of  Boston  aforesaid,  —  viz  :  that  the 
greatest  part  of  the  said  ministers  were  carnal  and  unconvert- 
ed men  ;  that  they  knew  nothing  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that 
they  were  leading  their  people,  blindfold,  down  to  hell,  and 
that  they  were  destroying  and  murdering  souls  by  thousands  ; 
the  said  James  Davenport,  at  the  same  time,  advising  their 
hearers  to  withdraw  from  the  said  ministers,  and  not  to 
hear  them  preach  ;  by  means  whereof,  great  numbers  of  peo- 
ple have  withdrawn  from  the  public  worship  of  God  and  the 
assemblies  by  law  required." 

Among  the  witnesses  before  the  Grand  Jury,  H.  V.  tes- 
tified, that  Davenport  said,  in  July,  on  Copp's  Hill  :  "  Good 
Lord,  (or  O  Lord,)  I  will  not  mince  the  matter  any  longer 
with  thee  ;  for  thou  knowest  that  I  know,  that  most  of  the 
ministers  of  the  town  of  Boston  and  of  the  country  are  un- 
converted, and  are  leading  their  people  blindfold  to  hell." 
N.  T.  heard  him  say  :  "  Good  Lord,  thou  knowest  the  most 
of  them  are  unconverted.  Pull  them  down  ;  turn  them  out, 
and  put  others  in  their  places."  A  juror  heard  him  say, 
that  "  they,  (the  ministers,)  knew  nothing  of  Jesus  Christ ;" 
but  no  testimony  to  that  effect  was  offered.  There  were 
twenty-three  jurors,  only  six  of  whom  were  from  Boston. 
Twenty-one  sustained  the  indictment ;  one  was  an  ignorant 
exhorter,  and  the  other  was  a  Quaker,  who  said  it  was  all 
true,  but  his  conscience  forbade  him  to  vote  on  such  a  mat- 
ter.    On  Saturday,  Davenport  was  arrested,  and  refusing  to 


248  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

give  bail,  though  two  gentlemen  offered  to  be  his  suroties, 
was  committed  for  trial.  'I'he  sheriff  offered  him  perfect 
liberty  till  the  day  of  trial,  if  he  would  promise  so  to  con- 
duct, that  he  should  receive  no  damage  ;  but  he  refused  to 
promise,  and  was  kept  in  comfortable  quarters.  On  Tues- 
day, August  24,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Colman,  Sevvall,  Check- 
ley,  Welsteed,  Byles  and  Gray  addressed  a  note  to  the 
court,  then  in  session,  entreating  that  no  severity  might  be 
used  on  their  account,  and  that  the  matter  might  be  conduct- 
ed with  all  the  gentleness  and  tenderness  which  their  honors 
might  judge  consistent  with  justice  and  the  public  peace. 
The  verdict  was,  "that  the  said  James  Davenport  uttered 
the  words  laid  in  the  presentment,  except  those  words,  '  that 
they,  (viz.  the  ministers,)  knew  nothing  of  Jesus  Christ  ;' 
and  that,  at  the  time  when  he  uttered  these  words,  he  was  non 
compos  mentis^  and  therefore  that  the  said  James  Davenport 
is  not  guilty.''^ 

It  does  not  appear  how  long  Davenport  continued  at  or 
near  Boston,  or  how  extensively  he  itinerated  in  the  vicinity- 
August  6,  he  visited  Ipswich,  where  he  remained  some  days. 
August  9,  he  was  at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rog- 
ers, pastor  of  the  First  Church.  Rev.  Theophilus  Picker- 
ing, pastor  of  the  Second  Church,  had  heard  that  some  of 
his  people  had  invited  Davenport  to  preach  in  his  parish,  and 
wrote  him  a  letter,  expressing  his  disapprobation.*  The 
warrant  for  his  apprehension  was  issued  at  Boston  on  the 
21st,  and  he  was  probably  arrested  the  same  day.  The 
council  at  Southold,  which  censured  his  irregular  absences 
from  his  charge,  was  held  on  the  7th  of  October,  at  which, 
we  may  presume,  he  was  present.  He  probably  spent  the 
winter  with  his  people. 

Meanwhile,  the  spirit  which  he  had  been  a  chief  means  in 
exciting,  was  raging  in  the  eastern  part  of  Connecticut.  By 
invitation  of  a  company  of  his  partisans,  he  arrived  at  New 
London,  March  2,  1743,  to  organize  them  into  a  church. 
Immediately  on  his  arrival,  in  obedience  to  messages  which 
he  said  he  had  received  from  God  in  dreams  and  otherwise, 
he  began  to  purify  the  company  from  evils  which  prevailed 
among  ihem.  To  cure  them  of  their  idolatrous  love  of 
worldly  things,  he  ordered  wigs,  cloaks  and  breeches,  hoods, 
gowns,  rings,  jewels    and  necklaces  to  be  brought  together 

»  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  249 

into  his  room,  and  laid  in  a  heap,  that  they  might,  by  his  sol- 
emn decree,  be  committed  to  the  flames.  To  this  heap  he 
added  the  pair  of  plush  breeches  which  he  wore  into  the  place, 
and  which  he  seems  to  have  put  off  on  being  confined  to  his 
bed,  by  the  increased  violence  of  a  complicated  disease. 
He  next  gave  out  a  catalogue  of  religious  books,  which  must 
be  brought  together  and  burned,  as  unsafe  in  the  hands  of  [he 
people.  March  6,  in  the  afternoon,  all  things  being  ready, 
his  followers  carried  a  quantity  of  books  to  the  wharf  and 
burned  them,  singing  around  the  pile,  "  Hallelujah,"  and 
"  Glory  to  God,"  and  declaring  that,  as  the  smoke  of  those 
books  ascended  up  in  their  presence,  so  the  smoke  of  the 
torment  of  such  of  their  authors  as  died  in  the  same  belief, 
was  now  ascending  in  hell.  Among  the  authors  were  Beve- 
ridge,  Flavel,  Drs.  Increase  Mather,  Colman,  and  Sewall, 
and  that  fervid  revivalist,  Jonathan  Parsons  of  Lyme.  The 
next  day,  more  books  were  burned,  but  one  of  the  party 
persuaded  the  others  to  save  the  clothes.* 

This  is  the  last  recorded  outbreak  of  Davenport's  fanati- 
cism. From  this  time,  he  disappears  from  the  publications 
of  the  day,  till  the  summer  of  1744,  when  he  published  his 
"Retractations"  of  his  errors.  This  paper  was  forwarded 
by  the  Rev.  Solomon  Williams,  of  Lebanon,  Ct.  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Prince,  of  Boston,  for  publication.  Mr.  Williams 
says,  in  his  letter  enclosing  it,  "He  is  full  and  free  in  it, 
and  seems  to  be  deeply  sensible  of  his  miscarriages  and  mis- 
conduct in  those  particulars,  and  very  desirous  to  do  all  he 
possibly  can  to  retrieve  the  dishonor  which  he  has  done  to 
religion,  and  the  injustice  to  many  ministers  of  the  gospel." 
As  originally  published,  the  document  reads  thus  :  — 

"  THE  REV.  MR.  DAVENPORT'S  RETRACTATIONS. 

"  Although  I  do  not  question  at  all,  but  there  is  great  reason  to  bles3 
God  for  a  glorious  and  wonderful  work  of  his  power  and  grace  in  the 
edification  of  his  children,  and  the  conviction  and  conversion  of  numbers 
in  New  England,  in  the  neighbouring  governments  and  several  other 
parts,  within  a  few  years  past ;  and  believe  that  the  Lord  hath  favored 
me,  though  most  unworthy,  with  several  others  of  his  servants,  in 
granting  special  assistance  and  success ;  the  glory  of  all  which  be 
given  to  Jehovah,  to  whom  alone  it  belongs: 

*  This  was  probably  John  Lee.  of  Lyme,  who,  according  to  Trumbull, 
told  them  that  his  "idols  "  were  his  wife  and  children,  whom  he  could  not 
burn,  as  the  word  of  God  forbude  it,  and  that  idolatry  could  be  suppressed 
only  by  a  change  of  heart. 


250  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  Yet,  after  frequent  meditation  and  desires  that  I  might  be  enabled 
to  apprehend  things  justly,  and,  I  hope  I  may  say,  mature  considera- 
tion, I  am  now  fully  convinced  and  persuaded  that  several  appendages 
to  this  glorious  work  are  no  essential  parts  thereof,  but  of  a  different 
and  contrary  nature  and  tendency  ;  Avhich  appendages  I  have  been  in 
the  time  of  the  work  very  industrious  in,  and  instrumental  of  promot- 
ing, by  a  misguided  zeal :  being  further  much  influenced  in  the  affair 
by  the  false  Spirit ;  which,  unobserved  by  me,  did  (as  I  liave  been 
brought  to  see  since)  prompt  me  to  unjust  apprehensions  and  miscon- 
duct in  several  articles ;  which  have  been  great  blemishes  to  the  work 
of  God,  very  grievous  to  some  of  God's  children,  no  less  ensnaring 
and  corrupting  to  others  of  them,  a  sad  means  of  many  persons'  ques- 
tioning the  work  of  God,  concluding  and  appearing  against  it,  and  of 
the  hardening  of  multitudes  in  their  sins,  and  an  awful  occasion  of  the 
enemies  blaspheming  the  right  Avays  of  the  Lord;  and  withal  very 
offensive  to  that  God,  before  whom  I  would  lie  in  the  dust,  prostrate 
in  deep  humility  and  repentance  on  this  account,  imploring  pardon  for 
the  Mediator's  sake,  and  thankfully  accepting  the  tokens  thereof 

"  The  articles  which  I  especially  refer  to,  and  would  in  the  most  pub- 
lic manner  retract,  and  warn  others  against,  are  these  which  follow,  viz, 

"  I.  The  method  I  used,  for  a  considerable  time,  with  respect  to  some, 
yea  many  ministers  in  several  parts,  in  openly  exposing  such  as  I  fear- 
ed or  thought  unconverted,  in  public  prayer  or  otherwise  ;  herein  mak- 
ing my  private  judgment,  (in  which  also  1  much  suspect  I  was  mistaken 
in  several  instances,  and  1  believe  also  that  my  judgment  concerning 
several  was  formed  rashly  and  upon  very  slender  grounds,)  I  say, 
making  my  private  judgment,  the  ground  of  public  actions  or  conduct; 
offending,  as  I  apprehend  (although  in  the  time  of  it,  ignorantly) 
against  the  ninth  commandment,  and  such  other  passages  of  Scripture 
as  are  similar;  yea,  [  may  say,  offending  against  the  laws  both  of 
justice  and  charity  ;  which  laws  vvere  further  broken, 

"  [I.  By  my  advising  and  urging  to  such  separations  from  those  min- 
isters whom  1  treated  as  above,  as  I  believe  may  be  justly  called  rash, 
unwarrantable,  and  of  sad  and  awful  tendency  and  consequence. 
And  here  I  would  ask  the  forgiveness  of  those  ministers,  whom  I 
have  injured  in  both  tliese  articles. 

"III.  I  confess  I  have  been  much  led  astray  by  following  impulses 
or  impressions  as  a  rule  of  conduct,  whether  tliey  came  with  or  without 
a  text  of  Scripture  ;  and  my  neglecting,  also,  duly  to  observe  the  an- 
alogy of  Scripture.  I  am  persuaded  this  was  a  great  means  of  cor- 
rupting my  experiences  and  carrying  me  off  from  the  word  of  God, 
and  a  great  handle,  which  the  false  Spirit  has  made  use  of  with  respect 
to  a  number,  and  me  especially. 

"  IV.  I  believe,  further,  that  I  have  done  much  hurt  to  religion,  by 
encouraging  private  persons  to  a  ministerial  and  authoritative  kind  or 
metfiod  of  exhorting;  which  is  particularly  observable  in  many,  such 
being  much  puffed  up  and  falling  into  the  snare  of  the  devil,  whilst 
many  others  are  thus  directly  prejudiced  against  the  work. 

"I  have  reason  to  be  deeply  luunbled  that  I  have  not  been  duly 
careful  to  endeavour  to  remove  or  prevent  prejudice,  (where  I  now 
believe  I  might  then  have  done  it  consistently  with  duty,)  which  ap- 


THE   GREAT  AWAKENING.  251 

peared  remarkable  in  the  method  I  practised,  of  singing  with  others  in 
the  streets,  in  societies  frequently. 

"I  would  also  penitently  confess  and  bewail  my  great  stiffness  in 
retaining  these  aforesaid  errors  a  great  while,  and  unwillingness  to 
examine  into  them  with  any  jealousy  of  their  being  errors,  notwith- 
standing the  friendly  counsels  and  cautions  of  real  friends,  especially 
in  the  ministry. 

"Here  may  properly  be  added  a  paragraph  or  two,  taken  out  of  a 
letter  from  me  to  Mr.  Barber  at  Georgia  ;  a  true  copy  of  which  I  gave 
consent,  should  be  published  lately  at  Philadelphia :  '  —  I  would  add 

to  what  brother  T hath  written  on  the  awful  affair  of  books  and 

clothes  at  New  London,  which  affords  grounds  of  deep  and  lasting 
humiliation ;  I  was,  to  my  shame  be  it  spoken,  the  ringleader  in  that 
horrid  action ;  I  was,  my  dear  brother,  under  tlie  powerful  influence 
of  the  false  Spirit,  almost  one  whole  day  together,  and  part  of  several 
days.  The  Lord  showed  me  afterwards,  that  the  spirit  I  was  then 
acted  by,  was  in  its  operations  void  of  true  inward  peace,  laying  the 
greatest  stress  on  externals,  neglecting  the  heart,  full  of  impatience, 
pride  and  arrogance  ;  although  I  thought,  in  the  time  of  it,  that  it  was 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  a  high  degree  ;  awful,  indeed  !  my  body,  especially 
my  leg,  much  disordered  at  the  same  time,*  which  Satan  and  my  evil 
heart  might  make  some  handle  of 

"  And  now  may  the  holy,  wise  and  good  God  be  pleased  to  guard 
and  secure  me  against  such  errors  for  the  future,  and  stop  the  progress 
of  those,  whether  ministers  or  people,  who  have  been  corrupted  by  my 
words  or  example  in  any  of  the  above  mentioned  particulars ;  and,  if 
it  be  his  holy  will,  bless  this  public  recantation  to  this  purpose.  And 
O!  may  he  grant,  withal,  that  such,  as  by  reason  of  the  aforesaid 
errors  and  misconduct,  have  entertained  unhappy  prejudices  against 
Christianity  in  general,  or  the  late  glorious  work  of  God  in  particular, 
may,  by  this  account,  learn  to  distinguish  the  appendage  from  the  sub- 
stance or  essence,  that  which  is  vile  and  odious,  from  that  which  is  pre- 
cious, glorious  and  divine,  and  thus  be  entirely  and  happily  freed  from 
all  those  prejudices  referred  to,  and  this,  in  infinite  mercy  through 
Jt;sus  Christ:  and  to  tliese  requests,  may  all  God's  children,  whether 
ministers  or  others,  say  Amen. 

"JAMES  DAVENPORT. 

"July  28,  1744. 

"P.  S.  Inasmuch  as  a  number,  who  have  fallen  in  with  and  promot- 
ed the  aforesaid  errors  and  misconduct,  and  are  not  altered  in  their 
minds,  may  be  prejudiced  against  this  Recantation,  by  a  supposition  or 
belief,  that  I  came  into  it  by  reason  of  desertion  or  dullness  and  dead- 
ness  in  religion,  it  seems  needful,  therefore,  to  signify,  what  I  hope  I 
may  say  without  boasting,  and  what  I  am  able,  through  pure  rich 
grace,  to  speak  with  truth  and  freedom,  that  for  some  months  in  the 
time  of  my  corning  to  the  abovesaid  conclusions  and  retractations,  and 
since  1  have  come  through  grace  to  them,  I  have  been  favored,  a  great 
part  of  the  time,  with  a  sweet  calm  and  serenity  of  soul,  and  rest  in 
God,  and  sometimes  with  special  and  remarkable  refreshments  of  soul, 

"  ■"  I  had  the  long  fever  on  me  and  the  caiikry  humor,  raging  at  once,' 


252  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

and  these  more  free  from  corrupt  mixtures  than  formerly.     Glory  to 
God  alone.  J.  D." 

August  30,  he  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Williams,  contain- 
ing the  following  corrections  :  — 

"  Upon  the  Rev.  Dr.  Colman's  observing,  that  the  use  of  a  word  in 
the  first  edition  of  these  Retractations  is  liable  to  be  understood  in  a 
sense  different  from  what  I  intended  in  the  use  of  it,  I  desire,  if  they 
be  printed  again,  that  instead  of  what  is  now  in  the  third  page  be- 
tween these  words,  'I  am  now  fully  convinced  and  persuaded,  that'; 
and  those  Avords,  'much  influenced  in  the  affair  by  the  false  Spirit': 
the  following  words  may  be  inserted,  viz:  'Several  things,  which  in 
the  time  of  the  work  I  was  very  industrious  and  instrumental  in  pro- 
moting, by  a  misguided  zeal,  were  no  parts  of  it,  but  of  a  different  and 
contrary  nature  and  tendency;  and  that  I  was'  —  And  in  page  7,  in- 
stead of  those  words,  'the  appendage  from  the  substance  or  essence': 
let  these  be  put,  viz :  '  what  is  no  part  of  the  work,  from  the  work  itself  " 

It  will  appear  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  that  Dr.  Colman 
had  good  reasons  for  his  scrupulousness  in  respect  to  phrase- 
ology. 

Davenport's  recovery  from  his  errors  is  commonly  ascrib- 
ed to  the  Christian  labors  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Williams  and 
Wheelock.  Their  arguments  were  doubtless  useful,  and  he 
calls  them  "the  greatest  means"  of  convincing  him  of  his 
errors.      But  other  causes  conspired. 

He  had  twice  been  judicially  pronounced  insane  ;  once  by 
the  Colonial  Assembly  at  Hartford,  and  once  by  the  jury  that 
acquitted  him  at  Boston.  During  a  great  part,  if  not  the 
whole,  of  his  itinerations,  he  was  lame  with  some  kind  of  in- 
flammatory ulcerations,  so  that  he  needed  the  assistance  of 
his  "armor-bearer"  in  walking;  and  there  are  other  evi- 
dences of  a  febrile  state  of  body.  This  fever  predisposed 
him  to  unnatural  and  unhealthy  mental  excitement ;  and  on 
the  other  hand,  his  splendid  dreams,  sleeping  and  waking,  of 
himself  as  a  great  reformer  and  a  special  favorite  of  God,  his 
want  of  sleep  while  he  spent  whole  nights  in  prayer,  his  ex- 
cessive pulpit  labors  and  the  mental  efforts  they  required,  the 
sight  of  the  multitudes  that  gathered  around  him,  and  of  the 
effect  which  he  produced  upon  them,  their  outcries,  faint- 
ings  and  convulsions,  all  bearing  witness  to  his  power,  —  all 
these  things  acted  through  his  mind  upon  his  nerves,  or  upon 
his  nerves  directly,  and  kept  up  the  fever.  Such  excitement 
inconceivably  increases  the  power  of  the  mind,  and  espe- 
cially the  power  of  moving  others  ;  but,  in  the  same  propor- 
tion,  renders   it   uncertain   what  the  man  will  do  with  that 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  253 

power.  At  New  London,  when  the  books  were  burnt,  the 
disease  seems  to  have  reached  its  crisis,  and  the  mental  dis- 
turbance amounted  to  a  clearly  defined  insanity.  He  was  at 
least  partially  aware  of  this,  when  he  wrote  his  "  Retrac- 
tations ;"  for  he  states  that  his  body,  especially  his  leg,  was 
much  disordered,  which  Satan  and  his  evil  heart  might  make 
some  handle  of.  Here  he  speaks  of  the  disease  as  past ;  as 
what  was.  As  health  returned,  he  recovered  the  power  of 
calm  reflection,  and  became  inclined  to  be  convinced  of  his 
errors,  and  to  return  to  sobriety  of  measures.  At  length,  he 
applied  to  Williams  and  Wheelock  for  arguments  against  his 
former  course.  Williams  commences  his  letter,  "  You  de- 
sire my  thoughts."  "  In  answer  to  your  question,"  was  the 
beginning  of  Wheelock's.  Their  letters  contain  merely  a 
plain,  well-written  statement  of  the  common  arguments, 
which  he  must  often  have  met  in  the  course  of  his  career  ; 
but  now,  when  he  was  convalescent,  and  seeking  health  in 
the  right  direction,  they  had  new  power  with  him.  They 
convinced  him, — as  he,  whether  he  was  aware  of  it  or  not, 
hoped  they  would.  His  history  should  teach  the  excitable, 
whether  leaders  or  followers,  a  salutary  lesson.  He  soon 
after  removed  to  New  Jersey,  where  he  appears  to  have 
labored  faithfully  and  usefully ;  but  he  was  frequently  in 
trouble,  often  obliged  to  change  residence,  and  lived  but  a 
few  years.  The  influence  of  his  errors  did  not  cease  with 
his  recantation,  or  even  with  his  life.  Among  the  Separat- 
ists, of  whom  he  was  the  leader,  and  the  sects  in  which  they 
finally  became  merged,  his  most  mischievous  disorders,  and 
even  the  tone  and  manner  of  public  speaking  which  Trum- 
bull ascribes  to  him,  have  been  preserved,  even  to  this  day. 
"  With  his  unnatural  and  violent  agitations  of  the  body," 
says  Trumbull,  "he  had  a  strange  singing  tone,  which  migh- 
tily tended  to  raise  the  feelings  of  weak  and  undlscerning 
people,  and  consequently  to  heighten  the  confusion  among  the 
passionate  of  his  hearers.  This  odd,  disagreeable  tuning  of 
the  voice  in  exercises  of  devotion,  was  caught  by  the  zealous 
exhorters,  and  became  a  characteristic  of  the  Separate  teach- 
ers. The  whole  sect  was  distinguished  by  this  sanctimonious 
tone."*  The  use  of  this  tone  in  devotional  exercises,  the 
excited  and  disorderly  worship,  the  occasional  appearance  of 

*  History  Conn.,  Vol.  H.  pages  160, 161. 

22 


254  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING, 

"the  power"  under  which  people  cry  out  and  fall  down,  the 
regard  for  unaccountable  "impressions,"  the  pretense  of 
preaching  from  the  immediate  suggestion  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  habit  of  condemning  all  ministers  who  do  not  favor  such 
things  as  cold  formalists,  destitute  of  piety  and  incapable  of 
usefulness,  and  of  laboring  to  destroy  their  influence  and 
break  up  their  churches,  have  greatly  diminished  within  the 
last  thirty  years,  but  are  not  yet  extinct. 

Of  the  result  of  Davenport's  labors  in  Boston,  little  is  re- 
corded. Prince  says  :  "A  small  number  from  some  of  our 
churches  and  congregations,  (some  had  been  communicants 
formerly,  and  some  added  lately,)  withdrew,  and  met  in  a 
distinct  society  ;"  and  having  just  mentioned  events  that 
occurred  in  December,  he  says  :  "  Sometime  after,  a  man 
of  the  Separate  society  became  a  Saturday  Baptist ;  who, 
being  dipped  in  the  country,  and  having  hands  laid  on  him, 
thought  himself  a  minister,  drew  five  women  after  him,  and 
proceeded  to  dip  them  ;  yet  they  have  all  since  deserted 
him.  But  six  males  of  the  said  society,  with  one  in  Brook- 
line,  —  went  on  to  associate  as  a  church,  — and  have  not  yet 
returned  to  the  several  churches  whence  they  went  out." 
But  he  had  heard  of  none  of  the  Separatists  who  had  fallen 
in  any  "censurable  evil,"  besides  their  separation,  except 
one  from  the  Old  South  Church  and  a  few  from  the  New 
North.  This  church  appears  to  have  been  short  lived  ;  but 
its  history  is  unknown.  In  February,  1748,  some  mem- 
bers of  the  Congregational  Churches  in  Boston  "embodied 
themselves  "  as  the  Eleventh  Congregational  Church.  Oc- 
tober 5,  of  the  same  year,  Croswell,  the  defender  of  Daven- 
port, was  installed  as  their  pastor.  The  Old  South  Church 
refused  to  unite  in  the  installing  council,  regarding  the  for- 
mation of  the  church  as  a  bad  precedent,  tending  to  "crum- 
ble the  churches  in  pieces."  The  French  Protestant 
Church  being  disbanded  about  this  time,  the  new  church 
obtained  possession  of  their  meetinghouse  in  School  street, 
where  Croswell  continued  to  be  their  pastor  till  he  died, 
April  12,  1785,  aged  76,  and  having  been  blind  for  several 
years.  The  house  then  passed  into  other  hands,  and  the 
building  on  its  site  is  now  occupied  by  a  society  of  Univer- 
salists.      The  records  of  this  church  are  lost.* 

*  History  of  Boston,  p.  231. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  265 

The  influence  of  Davenport's  errors  was  most  severely 
felt  in  the  eastern  part  of  Connecticut.  The  events  that  oc- 
curred there,  demand  a  distinct  consideration  ;  but  we  must 
first  glance  at  Whitefield's  labors  in  Great  Britain. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Whitefield  in  England.  —  His  breach  with  Wesley.  —  The  Revival  in 

Scotland. 

Whitefield  arrived  at  Falmouth,  on  his  return  from 
America,  March  11,  1741.  "On  the  following  Sabbath," 
says  Philip,  "  he  was  again  on  Kennington  Common,  but  with 
"not  above  a  hundred  to  hear  him."  It  was  not  quite  so 
bad  as  that.  Whitefield  says,  that  on  Sunday  his  congre- 
gation was  about  as  large  as  usual,  but  on  week  days  he  had 
not  more  than  two  or  three  hundred.  But  this  was  not  all. 
"One,"  he  says,  "that  got  some  hundreds  of  pounds  by 
my  sermons,  refused  to  print  for  me  any  more.  And  others 
wrote  to  me  that  God  would  destroy  me  in  a  fortnight,  and 
that  my  fall  was  as  great  as  Peter's.  Instead  of  having  thou- 
sands to  attend  me,  scarce  one  of  my  spiritual  children  came 
to  see  me  from  morning  to  night.  Once,  on  Kennington 
Common,  I  had  not  above  a  hundred  to  hear  me." 

Among  the  causes  of  this  loss  of  populari'ty,  he  mentions 
"  two  well-meant,  though  ill-judged  letters  against  England's 
two  great  favorites,  'The  Whole  Duty  of  ^Tan,'  and  Arch- 
bishop l^illotson,  who,  I  said,  knew  no  more  about  religion 
than  Mahomet."  He  condemned  them  for  their  Arminian- 
ism  ;  and  for  these  letters,  "the  world  was  angry"  at  him. 
A  more  powerful  cause  was  his  controversy  with  Wesley. 
Before  Whitefield  left  England,  Wesley  had  threatened  to 
"  drive  John  Calvin  out  of  Bristol ;"  and  some  one  had 
charged  him  with  not  preaching  the  gospel,  because  he  did 
not  preach  the  doctrine  of  election.  Whitefield  besought 
him  not  to  preach  against  that  doctrine,  —  as  he,  though  he 
believed  it,  never  preached  in  favor  of  it,  —  lest  they  should 
become  divided  among  themselves.  Wesley  solemnly  ap- 
pealed to  God  for  direction,  by  drawing  lots.     His  lot  was 


256  THE  GREAT  AWAKEiNlNG. 

"  preach  and  print."  He  preached  ;  but  Whitefield  begged 
him  not  to  print,  and  he  did  not,  till  after  Whitefield's  depar- 
ture. Whitefield  reluctantly  wrote  a  reply,  from  "  Bethes- 
da,  in  Georgia,  Dec.  24,  1740,"  hoping  that  the  perusal  of 
it  would  have  such  an  effect  on  Wesley's  mind,  as  would 
render  its  publication  unnecessary  ;  but,  contrary  to  his  in- 
tention, it  was  soon  published  in  England  by  some  of  his 
officious  friends.  Wesley  was  formed  for  a  leader,  and  could 
ill  bear  opposition,  even  from  the  man  who  had  raised  the 
present  excitement  and  put  him  at  the  head  of  it.  The  let- 
ter, too,  contained  some  arguments,  which  it  was  easier  to  be 
offended  at,  than  to  answer.  But  the  arguments  were  not  the 
most  galling  part  of  its  contents.  In  his  preface,  Wesley 
had  informed  his  followers,  in  terms  sufficiently  intelligible  to 
them,  that  he  published  his  sermon  by  special  divine  direc- 
tion. Those  who  believed  this,  of  course  could  not  ques- 
tion the  correctness  of  the  doctrine  ;  for  certainly  God  would 
not  direct  Wesley  to  publish  error.  In  order  to  obtain  an 
impartial  consideration  of  his  own  arguments,  Whitefield 
must  do  away  this  impression.  He  therefore  told  how 
Wesley  received  his  divine  direction  to  "preach  and  print ;" 
and  reminded  him  of  his  neglect  to  inquire  of  God,  in  the 
first  place,  whether  the  doctrine  was  true.  In  a  note,  he 
added  another  instance  of  Wesley's  sortilege.  "  The  morn- 
ing I  sailed  from  Deal  for  Gibraltar,  Mr.  Wesley  arrived 
from  Georgia.  Instead  of  coming  on  board,  to  converse 
with  me,  though  the  ship  was  not  far  off  the  shore,  he  drew 
a  lot,  and  immediately  set  forwards  to  London.  Behind  him 
he  leaves  a  letter  for  me,  in  which  were  words  to  this  effect : 
'  When  I  saw  God,  by  the  same  wind  which  was  carrying 
you  out,  brought  me  in,  I  asked  counsel  of  God.  His  an- 
swer you  have  enclosed.'"  This  was  a  |)iece  of  paper,  in 
which  were  written,  these  words  :  "  I^et  him  return  to  Lon- 
don." Whitefield  states  that  he  was  surprised  at  a  message 
so  contrary  to  what  appeared  his  plain  duty,  betook  himself 
to  prayer,  and  the  account  of  the  prophet  that  was  slain  by  a 
lion,  for  turning  back,  contrary  to  divine  direction,  at  the 
word  of  another  prophet,  was  powerfully  impressed  upon  his 
soul.  He  continued  his  voyage,  and  Wesley  afterwards 
acknowledged  that  God  gave  him  a  wrong  lot  then,  though 
he  harl  never  given  him  a  wrong  one  before.  Whitefield 
concluded  that  God  gave  him  a  wrong  lot,  justly,  because  he 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  257 

tempted  God  in  drawing  one.  When  this  letter  was  pub- 
lished and  distributed  among  their  followers,  Wesley  coin- 
mented  upon  it  in  one  of  their  meetings,  and  saying,  ''  I  will 
just  do  what  I  believe  Mr.  Whitefield  would,  were  he  here 
himself,"  he  tore  it  in  pieces.  All  present  followed  his  ex- 
ample. But  Wesley  could  not  forgive  tbe  author.  White- 
field  confessed  his  error  in  publishing  a  private  transaction, 
begged  pardon,  and  entreated  his  old  friend  to  be  reconciled  ; 
but  Wesley  reminded  him,  that  for  betraying  secrets^  every 
friend  icould  depart.  The  insolent  language  in  which  he 
professes  his  kindness,  shows  his  resentment.  "  The  general 
tenor,  both  of  my  public  and  private  exhortations,  when  I 
touch  thereon  at  all,  as  even  my  enemies  know,  if  they  would 
testify,  is,  — '  Spare  the  young  man,  even  Absalom,  for  my 
sake.'  "  He  seems  not  to  have  been  aware  how  accurately 
these  words  describe  his  treatment  of  Whitefield.  Mean- 
while, the  war  went  on  between  Wesley  and  the  leading  Cal- 
vinistic  Methodists.  It  was  managed  in  a  bad  spirit  on  both 
sides  ;  but  the  high  standing  and  superior  tactics  of  Wesley 
carried  the  day,  and  almost  the  whole  body  submitted  to  his 
dictation.  The  Moravians,  too,  made  inroads  upon  White- 
field's  societies,  and  turned  his  printer  against  him. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things,  when  Whitefield  returned  to 
London.  "  At  the  same  time,"  he  writes,  "  I  was  much 
embarrassed  in  my  outward  circumstances.  A  thousand 
pounds  I  owed  for  the  orphan  house.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  bills  drawn  on  Mr.  Seward,  were  returned  upon  me.* 
I  was  also  threatened  to  be  arrested  for  two  hundred  pounds 
more.  A  family  of  a  hundred  to  be  maintained,  four  thou- 
sand miles  off,  in  the  dearest  part  of  the  king's  dominions. 

"  Ten  thousand  times  would  I  rather  have  died,  than  part 
with  my  old  friends.  It  would  have  melted  any  heart,  to 
have  heard  Mr.  Charles  Wesley  and  me  weeping,  after  pray- 
er, that  if  possible  the  breach  might  be  prevented.  Once, 
and  no  more,  I  preached  in  the  Foundry,  a  place  which  Mr. 
John  Wesley  had  procured  in  my  absence.  All  my  work 
was  to  begin  again." 

He  began  to  preach  in  Moorfield  on  week  days,  under  one 
of  the  trees  ;  where  he  saw  numbers  of  his  spiritual  children 

*  Seward  was  dead,  and  had  not,  as  was  expected,  lefl  him  any  thing 
by  his  will. 

22* 


258  THE  GREAT  AWAKExNlNG. 

running  by  him  without  looking  at  him,  and  some  of  them 
putting  their  fingers  in  their  ears,  that  they  might  not  hear 
one  word  he  said.  "  A  hke  scene  opened  at  Bristol,  where 
I  was  denied  preaching  in  the  house  1  had  founded."  It  was 
the  Kingswood  schoolhouse,  built  for  the  children  of  the 
colliers.  Whitefield  had  first  dared  to  preach  to  them,  and 
persuaded  them  to  hear  the  gospel ;  had  originated  the  school, 
procured  the  building  lot,  laid  the  corner-stone,  and  put  up 
the  walls  with  money  he  had  raised  for  that  purpose,  and 
then  transferred  the  whole  to  Wesley  ;  and  now  he  was  not 
suffered  to  preach  in  it. 

We  must  not,  as  we  are  tempted  to  do,  exclaim  against 
the  cold-hearted  selfishness  of  Wesley.  The  man  who  spent 
his  life  in  labors  for  the  good  of  others,  who  acquired  and 
gave  away  in  charity,  many  thousand  pounds,  and  lived  and 
died  poor,  must  not  be  called  selfish.  But  Wesley  had  ex- 
tensive and  well-defined  plans  for  doing  good  ;  and  he  had 
a  heart  which  could  deliberately  sacrifice  every  interest  and 
every  feeling,  either  of  himself  or  his  friends,  that  stood  in 
the  way  of  their  accomplishment.  Whitefield  could  not  have 
done  it.  He  could  and  did  sacrifice  himself  for  the  good  of 
others  ;  but  he  could  not  sacrifice  his  friends.  Emotions  of 
love  towards  every  human  being  whom  he  saw  or  thought  of, 
governed  the  life  of  Whitefield.  Cool,  calculating  benevo- 
lence on  a  large  scale,  was  the  characteristic  of  Wesley. 
But  Whitefield  could  not  long  be  kept  down.  His  friends 
'  built  a  new  house  and  opened  a  new  school  at  Kingswood. 
Some  "free  grace  dissenters,"  as  Gillies  calls  them,  procur- 
ed the  loan  of  a  building  lot  in  London,  on  which  they  erect- 
ed a  large  temporary  shed,  which  he  called  the  Tabernacle. 
Here  his  congregations  immediately  increased,  and  he  ad- 
dressed them  with  his  usual  power  and  success.  At  the 
desire  of  his  hearers,  he  sent  for  some  of  his  Calvinistic 
friends  from  other  places,  to  come  and  assist  him  in  gather- 
ing the  spiritual  harvest.  Invitations  soon  poured  in  from  the 
country,  and  even  from  places  where  he  had  never  been. 
At  a  common  near  Brainiree,  he  had  more  than  ten  thousand 
hearers,  and  at  many  other  places,  congregations  were  large, 
and  much  affected.  "  Sweet,"  he  says,  "  was  the  conver- 
sation which  I  had  with  several  ministers  of  Christ  ;  but  our 
own  clergy  [of  the  established  Church]  grew  more  and  more 
shy,  now   they  knew  I   was   a  Calvinist."     In   about  four 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  259 

months  from  his  arrival  in  London,  he  not.  only  had  tri- 
umphed in  England,  but  was  triumphing  in  Edinburgh. 
Events  in  that  region  have  a  closer  connexion  with  the 
"  Great  Awakening  "  in  America,  and  must  be  narrated  at 
greater  length. 

When  Presbyterianism  was  established  in  Scotland  by  act 
of  Parliament,  it  was  intended  as  a  religion  for  the  whole 
people.  The  Directory  for  Worship  takes  for  granted  that 
all  children  will  be  baptized,  taught  the  catechism,  and  at  a 
suitable  age,  having  shown  their  doctrinal  knowledge  in  an 
examination,  and  not  being  heretical  in  their  opinions  or 
scandalous  in  their  lives,  will  be  admitted  to  the  communion. 
The  doctrine  of  the  church  is,  that  none  but  the  regenerate 
can  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper  acceptably,  and  some  pas- 
tors have,  at  their  examinations,  required  evidence  of  an 
experimental  knowledge  of  saving  truth  ;  but  the  formularies 
of  the  church  allow  the  sessions  to  hope  that  every  candidate 
who  is  neither  heretical  nor  scandalous,  is  regenerate,  and  to 
admit  all  who,  after  suitable  admonition  to  examine  them- 
selves, choose  to  come  ;  and  such  seems  to  have  been  the 
prevailing  practice.  As  might  be  expected,  the  gospel  was 
faithfully  preached  by  many  of  the  clergy,  and  there  were 
conversions  and  revivals  ;  while  many  unrenewed  men,  of 
decent  morals,  were  admitted,  first  to  the  communnion,  and 
then,  having  been  educated  at  the  Universities,  to  the  minis- 
try. The  law  of  patronage  existed  there,  as  well  as  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  when  a  parish  became  vacant,  the  patron,  if  un- 
converted, would  be  very  likely  to  nominate  an  unconverted 
minister.  In  many  cases,  the  presentee  would  be  received 
without  gainsaying.  In  others,  the  parish  would  "reclaim," 
or  protest  against  his  induction  into  office.  What  should  be 
done  in  such  a  case,  is  a  question  which  has  never  been  put 
at  rest,  and  which  is  now  shaking  the  Church  of  Scotland  to 
its  centre  ;  the  General  Assembly  having  decided  that  such 
candidates  shall  not  be  ordained,  and  the  civil  government 
having  decided  that  they  have  a  right  to  ordination,  and  that 
the  Presbyteries  must  and  shall  ordain  them. 

Christ  is  certainly  the  sole  head  of  his  own  church.  It  is 
the  duty  of  his  church,  through  its  appropriate  organs,  to 
maintain  and  promulgate  those  moral  truths  which  are  bind- 
ing on  all  men  ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  all  men  in  office,  to  be 
governed  by  those  truths  in  all  their  official  conduct  ;  and  if 


260  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

a  civil  ruler,  being  a  member  of  a  church,  receives  bribes  to 
pervert  justice,  or  is  guilty  of  any  other  violation  of  Christian 
principle,  either  in  his  private  conduct  or  his  official  acts,  he 
is  as  much  amenable  to  the  discipline  of  the  church,  as  any 
other  person.  But  the  theory  always  contended  for  by  a 
part  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  now  embraced  by  the 
General  Assembly,  goes  further.  It  assumes,  that  Christ  has 
established  two  kinds  of  government  on  earth  ;  civil,  to  take 
care  of  worldly  concerns,  and  ecclesiastical,  to  take  care  of 
all  matters  pertaining  to  religion  ;  that  he  has  established 
church  courts,  to  act  in  his  name  on  all  ecclesiastical  ques- 
tions ;  and  that  the  civil  government  may  never  reverse  the 
decisions  of  these  courts,  but  must  always  execute  them, 
whenever  force  is  necessary  for  their  execution.  This  was 
the  leading  thought  in  the  "  Solemn  League  and  Covenant," 
by  which  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  bound  themselves  to  pro- 
cure and  maintain,  by  force  of  arms  if  necessary,  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  church  according  to  the  order  of  the  gospel, 
under  Christ  as  its  sole  bead. 

But  who  shall  decide  what  questions  are  civil  and  what 
are  ecclesiastical  ?  And  what  shall  be  done  with  questions, 
numerous  in  Great  Britain  and  all  Europe,  which  are  partly 
ecclesiastical,  and  yet  affect  important  civil  rights  and  priv- 
ileges ?  Here  are  difficulties  which  have  never  been  sur- 
mounted ;  for  if  the  church  may  determine  the  extent  of  its 
own  jurisdiction,  it  may  make  the  civil  government  its  mere 
tool,  as  the  Popedom  has  done  ;  and  to  this,  no  Protestant 
government  can  submit.  The  state,  therefore,  takes  the  lib- 
erty to  interfere  in  all  questions  that  affect  civil  rights.  Or- 
dination is  clearly  ecclesiastical  ;  but  it  gives  a  right  to  a  sal- 
ary, which  is  a  civil  right.  The  right  of  presentation  to  a 
parish  is  a  civil  right.  It  is  worth  money,  more  or  less,  ac- 
cording to  the  incotne  of  the  parish,  and  the  certainty  that 
the  presentee  will  be  ordained.  The  civil  government,  in 
order  to  protect  these  and  other  civil  rights,  is  obliged  to 
bring  the  church  into  subjection.  But  to  this,  the  church 
can  never  subinit.  These  two  governments  can  never  act 
harmoniously  over  the  same  people.  One  or  the  other  must 
be  abolished,  or  become  the  submissive  tool  of  the  other,  or 
they  must  be  at  war. 

But  the  Church  of  Scotland  was  also  divided  against  it- 
self,—  as  every  church  must  be,  which  is  composed  of  such 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  261 

heterogeneous  materials.  To  a  great  extent,  the  unconvert- 
ed clergy  took  sides  with  the  state  against  their  more  spirit- 
ual brethren.  They  loved  the  arrangement  to  which  they 
owed  their  offices  and  salaries.  They  loved  to  study  eccle- 
siastical polity  better  than  theology,  and  felt  more  at  home  in 
church  courts  than  in  prayer  meetings.  They  gained  influ- 
ence in  the  General  Assembly,  and  used  that  influence  to 
strengthen  their  party,  to  discourage  all  efficient  discipline, 
and  to  give  prevalence  to  a  rationalizing  Arminianism,  that 
disturbed  no  man's  conscience  and  alarmed  no  man's  fears. 
With  the  aid  of  such  good  men  as  they  could  manage,  they 
passed  several  acts,  which  some  of  the  more  pious  deemed 
subversive  of  the  authority  of  Christ,  the  liberties  of  his 
people,  and  the  interests  of  religion.  The  minority  were  not 
allowed  to  protest,  on  the  minutes  of  the  Assembly,  as  they 
thought  it  their  right  and  their  duty  to  do.  They  therefore 
protested  in  their  own  pulpits  ;  and  for  a  public  condemna- 
tion of  some  of  the  doings  of  the  Assembly,  process  was 
commenced  against  Ebenezer  Erskine  in  1732.  The  next 
year,  he  and  three  others  were  suspended  from  the  exercise 
of  the  ministerial  office.  This  sentence  was  afterwards  re- 
called, but  they  refused  to  return,  and  in  1740,  the  Assembly 
dissolved  their  connexion  with  their  congregations  and  with 
the  national  church.  They,  however,  with  others,  had  form- 
ed the  "  Associate  Presbytery  ;"  and  after  their  deposition 
they  continued  their  ministerial  labors  among  their  people, 
and  many,  of  the  agricultural  population  especially,  adhered 
to  them.  Yet  far  the  greater  part  of  the  pious  clergy,  and 
even  of  those  who  thought  the  Seceders  abused,  remained  in 
connexion  with  the  General  Assembly.  The  state  of  religion 
among  them  is  thus  described  by  the  Rev.  James  Robe,  of 
Kilsyth  : 

"  There  hath  been  a  great  and  just  complaint  amongst  god- 
ly ministers  and  Christians  of  the  elder  sort,  who  had  seen 
better  days,  that  for  some  years  past,  there  hath  been  a  sen- 
sible decay  as  to  the  life  and  power  of  godliness.  Iniquity 
abounded,  and  the  love  of  many  waxed  cold.  Our  defec- 
tion from  the  Lord  and  backsliding  increased  fast  to  a  dread- 
ful apostasy.  While  the  government,  worship  and  doctrine 
established  in  this  church  were  retained  in  profession,  there 
hath  been  an  universal  corruption  of  life,  reaching  even  unto 
the  sons  and  daugliters  of  God."     Of  the  controversy  raised 


262  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

by  the  Seceders,  he  says  :  — "  This  unhappily  filled  the  heads 
and  mouths  of  most  professors  to  such  a  degree,  as  to  mind 
and  converse  about  nothing,  even  on  the  Lord's  day,  but 
ministers,  church  judicatures,  and  other  disputable  things,  far 
from  the  vitals  of  religion.  The  state  of  their  souls  was 
much  forgotten,  and  they  were  either  disaffected  to  their 
worthy  ministers,  and  the  Lord's  ordinances  dispensed  by 
them  ;  or  if  they  attended,  they  were  diverted  by  those 
things  from  a  concern  about  their  regeneration,  conversion, 
and  amending  their  ways  and  doings  which  were  not  good. 
Wherever  our  lamentable  divisions  prevailed,  serious  religion 
declined  to  a  shadow." 

Meanwhile,  events  abroad,  as  well  as  the  declension  at 
home,  were  calling  the  attention  of  ministers,  both  of  the 
Kirk  and  Secession,  to  the  revival  of  vital  piety.  Edwards' 
Narrative  of  "  Surprising  Conversions  "  at  Northampton  had 
excited  attention.  The  awakening  in  England  under  White- 
field  could  not  but  move  the  minds  of  Christians  in  the  sister 
kingdom.  The  Seceders  had  strong  hopes  that  piety  would 
revive  under  their  labors  ;  and  Ralph  Erskine,  in  August, 
1739,  wrote  of  some  late  sacramental  meetings:  —  "The 
Spirit  of  God  was  sometimes  remarkably  poured  out,  and  I 
hope  the  power  of  the  Lord  was  present  to  heal  many  souls. 
Enemies  gnash  with  their  teeth,  as  they  do  with  you  ;  but 
the  Lord  carries  on  his  work."  This  was  written  to  White- 
field,  in  answer  to  a  letter  from  him,  inquiring  about  the  As- 
sociate Presbytery,  for  sympathising  with  whom  he  had  been 
blamed.  Their  sympathy  was  natural,  for  both  parties  were 
zealous  for  the  promotion  of  vital  piety,  both  were  protest- 
ing against  the  corruptions  of  their  own  church,  and  both 
were  opposed  by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  their  own 
brethren.  The  correspondence  continued,  and  the  Seceders 
invited  Whitefield  to  Scotland.  In  June,  1741,  Ebenezer 
Erskine  wrote  : 

"  VVe  hear  that  God  is  with  you  of  a  truth,  and  therefore  we  wish 
for  as  intimate  a  connexion  with  you  in  the  Lord  as  possible,  for  bnild- 
ing  np  the  fallen  tabernacle  of  David  in  Britain ;  and  particularly  in 
Scotland,  when  you  shall  be  sent  to  us.  This,  dear  brother,  and  no 
party  views,  is  at  the  bottom  of  any  proposal  made  by  my  brother 
Ralph,  in  his  own  name  and  in  the  name  of  his  associated  brethren. 
All  intended  by  us  at  present  is,  that  when  you  come  to  Scotland, 
your  way  may  be  such  as  not  to  stronjrthen  the  hands  of  our  corrupt 
clergy  and  judicatories,  who  are  carrying  a  course  of  defection,  wor- 
rying out  a  faithful  ministry  from  the  land,  and  the  power  of  religion 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  263 

with  it.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  limit  your  great  Master's  commission  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  We  ourselves  preach  the  gospel 
to  all  promiscuously  who  are  willing  to  hear  us.  But  we  preach  not 
upon  the  call  and  invitation  of  the  ministers,  but  of  the  people,  which, 
I  suppose,  is  your  own  practice  now  in  England  ;  and  should  this  also 
be  your  way  when  you  come  to  Scotland,  it  could  do  the  Associate 
Presbytery  no  manner  of  harm.  But  if,  besides,  you  could  find  free- 
dom to  company  with  us,  to  preach  with  us  and  for  us,  and  to  accept 
of  our  advices  in  your  work,  while  in  this  country,  it  might  contribute 
much  to  weaken  the  enemy's  hand,  and  to  strengthen  ours  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  when  the  strength  of  the  battle  is  against  us." 

This  is  perfectly  honest.  They  wished  for  the  promotion 
of  piety,  for  Whitefield's  aid  in  promoting  it,  and  for  the  in- 
crease of  credit,  influence  and  numbers  which  his  coopera- 
tion would  give  them  ;  and  they  were  unwilling  that  any  part 
of  these  advantages  should  be  enjoyed  by  their  opponents, 
who,  they  believed,  were  corrupting  the  church  and  destroy- 
ing piety  from  the  land.  Ralph  Erskine  had  written,  April 
10,  1741. 

"  Come,  if  possible,  dear  Whitefield,  come,  and  come  to  us  also. 
There  is  no  face  on  earth  1  would  desire  more  earnestly  to  see.  Yet 
I  would  desire  it  only  in  a  way  that,  I  think,  would  tend  most  to  the 
advancing  of  our  Lord's  kingdom  and  the  reformation  work  among 
our  hands.  Such  is  the  situation  of  affairs  among  us,  that  unless  you 
come  with  a  design  to  meet  and  abide  with  us  particularly  of  the 
Associate  Presbytery,  and  to  make  your  public  appearances  in  the 
places  especially  of  their  concern,  —  I  would  dread  the  consequences 
of  your  coming,  lest  it  should  seem  equally  to  countenance  our  perse- 
cutors. Your  fame  would  occasion  a  flocking  to  you,  to  whatever  side 
you  turn  ;  and  if  it  should  be  in  their  pulpits,  as  no  doubt  some  of 
them  would  urge,  we  know  not  how  it  would  be  improved  against  us. 
[  know  not  with  whom  you  could  safely  join  yourself,  if  not  with  us." 

Whitefield  wrote  to  both  these  brothers,  that  he  could  not 
join  himself  to  any  one  denomination  of  Christians  ;  that  he 
could  visit  Scotland  only  as  an  occasional  preacher,  "  to 
preach  the  simple  gospel  to  all  who  are  willing  to  hear."  "  I 
write  this,"  he  says,  "  that  there  may  be  no  misunderstanding 
between  us." 

Meanwhile,  there  was  probably  some  increase  of  spiritual 
life  in  the  national  Church  of  Scotland,  though  little  to  that 
effect  has  been  recorded.  Robe,  of  Kilsyth,  informs  us, 
that  in  1740  he  began  to  preach  on  regeneration  ;  its  necessi- 
ty, its  nature,  and  its  effects.  He  then  saw  no  fruit  of  these 
sermons,  except  some  increased  seriousness  among  the  pi- 
ous while  hearing  them  ;  but  he  afterwards  found  that  they 
were  the  means  of  some  instances  of  conviction  and  conver- 


264  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

slon.  Similar  events,  we  may  presume,  occurred  in  a  few 
other  parishes  ;  but  there  was  no  movement  of  sufficient 
power  and  extent  to  attract  public  notice,  or  secure  a  place 
in  history. 

Whitefield  arrived  at  Leith,  July  30,  1741.  As  the  Ers- 
j^  kines  had  foretold,  he  was  urged  to  preach  in  Edinburgh. 
He  declined,  and  went  the  next  day  to  Dunfermline,  to  see 
Ralph  ;  for,  as  the  Seceders  had  invited  him  to  Scotland,  he 
felt  bound  to  make  his  first  public  appearance  among  them. 
Here  he  preached,  to  the  satisfaction,  and  even  delight,  of 
both  ministers  and  people.  The  next  day,  Erskine  accom- 
panied him  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  preached  in  the  Orphan 
House  Park,  to  a  large  concourse  of  hearers,  with  good  ef- 
fect ;  and  afterwards  in  some  of  the  churches.  August  5, 
he  met  the  Associate  Presbytery  at  Dunfermline,  the  mem- 
bers having  been  called  together  "  by  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Ralph  Erskine,  who  had  formed  the  tryst  with  Mr.  White- 
field."  There  are  several  imperfect  accounts  of  this  con- 
ference, all  agreeing,  however,  in  the  most  important  partic- 
ulars. Whitefield,  in  a  half  humorous,  half  pathetic  letter 
to  his  friend  Noble,  of  New  York,  says  :  "  They  soon 
agreed  to  form  themselves  into  a  Presbytery,  and  were  pro- 
ceeding to  choose  a  moderator.  I  asked  them,  for  what 
purpose  .''  They  answered,  to  discourse,  and  set  me  right 
about  the  matter  of  church  government  and  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant.  I  replied,  they  might  save  themselves 
that  trouble,  for  I  had  no  scruples  about  it  ;  and  that  settling 
church  government,  and  preaching  about  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant,  was  not  my  plan."  After  some  further  re- 
marks, he  says,  "  I  then  asked  them  seriously,  what  they 
would  have  me  to  do.  The  answer  was,  that  I  was  not  de- 
sired to  subscribe  immediately  to  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant,  but  to  preach  only  for  them  till  I  had  further  light. 
I  asked,  why  only  for  them  }  Mr.  Ralph  Erskine  said,  '  they 
were  the  Lord's  people.'  I  then  asked,  whether  there  were 
no  other  Lord's  people  but  themselves  .''  and  supposing  all 
others  were  the  devil's  people,  they  certainly  had  more  need 
to  be  preached  to,  and  therefore,  I  was  more  and  more  de- 
termined to  go  out  into  the  highways  and  hedges  ;  and  that 
if  the  Pope  himself  would  lend  me  his  pulpit,  I  would  gladly 
proclaim  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ  therein."  The 
company  soon  broke  up  ;  one  of  them  preached  a  sermon 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  265 

against  prelacy  and  its  appendages  ;  Whitefield  retired,  wept, 
prayed,  preached  in  the  fields,  dined  with  the  Presbytery, 
and  took  his  final  leave. 

According  to  a  minute  by  Ebenezer  Erskine,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  discuss  Whitefield's  opinion,  that  the  Scriptures 
allow  the  toleration  of  all  sects.  E.  Erskine  reminded  him 
that  God  had  made  him  the  instrument  of  converting  many 
souls  ;  that  he  ought  to  consider  how  that  body  was  to  be 
organized  and  preserved  ;  that  this  could  not  be  done  without 
ordaining  elders  over  them,  in  which  he  must  have  the  assist- 
ance of  "  some  two  or  three,  met  together  in  a  judicative 
capacity,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  "  Unto  all  which  Mr. 
Whitefield  replied,  that  he  reckoned  it  his  duty  to  go  on, 
in  preaching  the  gospel,  without  proceeding  to  any  such 
work." 

Whitefield  had  some  further  correspondence  with  the  Er- 
skines,  but  the  breach  could  not  be  healed.  He  would  not 
bind  himself  to  preach  in  no  pulpits  but  those  of  the  Asso- 
ciate Presbytery,  and  therefore  they  would  have  no  connex- 
ion with  him.  August  13,  he  wrote  to  a  son  of  E.  Erskine  : 
"  The  treatment  I  met  with  from  the  Associate  Presbytery, 
was  not  altogether  such  as  I  expected.  It  grieved  me,  as 
much  as  it  did  you.  I  could  scarce  refrain  from  bursting 
into  a  flood  of  tears.  I  wish  all  were  like  minded  with  your 
honored  father  and  uncle.  Matters  would  not  then  be  carried 
with  so  high  a  hand."  And  again  :  "I  doubt  not  but  their 
present  violent  methods,  together  with  the  corruptions  of  the 
Assembly,  will  cause  many  to  become  Independents,  and  set 
up  particular  churches  of  their  own.  This  was  the  effect  of 
Archbishop  Laud's  acting  with  so  high  a  hand  ;  and  wheth- 
er it  be  presbytery  or  episcopacy,  if  managed  in  the  same 
manner,  it  will  be  productive  of  the  same  effects.  Blessed 
be  God,  I  have  not  so  learned  Christ."  He  remarked  to  a 
lady,  that  the  Associate  Presbytery  were  building  a  Babel, 
which  would  soon  fall  down  about  their  ears.  Subsequent 
events  have  shown  his  sagacity.  The  Seceders  quarrelled 
among  themselves,  on  some  minute  ecclesiastical  matter,  and 
became  divided,  in  1747,  into  Burghers  and  Anti-Burghers, 
between  whom  there  was  a  long  and  bitter  controversy.  And 
many  have  become  "  Independents."  "  The  Congregational 
Union  of  Scotland "  is  now  a  large  and  efiicient  body  of 
Christians. 

23 


266  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Whitefield  returned  to  Edinburgh,  where  the  clergy  of  the 
established  church  received  him  with  the  heartier  welcome, 
because  they  had  heard  of  the  conference  at  Dunfermline, 
and  knew  that  his  powerful  influence  would  now  operate  in 
their  favor,  and  against  the  Seceders.     He,  however,  cared 
little  what  ecclesiastical  party  gained  or  lost  by  his  labors,  if 
he  could  only  win  souls  to  Christ.     August  14,  he  wrote  to 
Howel  Harris,  his  friend  in  Wales  :  "  It  would  make  your 
heart  leap  for  joy   to    be   now    at  Edinburgh.     I  question 
whether  there  are  not  upwards  of  three  hundred  in  this  city, 
seeking  after  Jesus  every  morning.     I  have  a  constant  levee 
of  wounded  souls,  and  many  quite  slain  by  the  law.     God's 
power  attends  me  continually,  just  as  when  1  left  London. 
At  seven  in  the  morning,  we  have  a  sweet  lecture  in  the 
fields,  attended,  not  only  by  the  common  people,  but  by  per- 
sons  of  great  rank.     Our    congregations    consist    of  many 
thousands.     Never  did   I  see    so  many  Bibles,  nor  people 
looking  into  them  with  more  attention.     Plenty  of  tears  flow 
from  their  eyes,  and  their  concern  appears  in  various  ways. 
I  preach  twice  daily,  and  expound  at  a  private  house  at  night, 
and  am  employed  in  speaking  to  souls  in  distress,  a  great  part 
of  the  day."     So  it  was  for  several  weeks.     One  day  he 
preached  seven  times. 

At  Glasgow,  he  preached  ten  sermons  ;  and  some  months 
after,  fifty  persons  were  known,  who  appeared  to  have  been 
converted  by  means  of  them  ;  and  the  evident  change  in 
them,  had  awakened  others.  He  wrote  from  Aberdeen, 
October  9  :  "  At  my  first  coming  here,  things  looked  a  little 
gloomy  ;  for  the  magistrates  had  been  so  prejudiced  against 
me  by  one  Mr.  Bisset,  that  when  applied  to,  they  refused 
me  the  use  of  the  kirk  yard  to  preach  in.  This  Mr.  Bisset 
is  colleague  with  one  Mr.  O.,  at  whose  repealed  invitation  I 
came  hither.  Soon  after  my  arrival,  dear  Mr.  O.  took  me 
to  pay  my  respects  to  him.  He  was  prepared  for  it ;  and 
hnmediately  pulled  out  a  paper,  containing  a  number  of  in- 
significant questions,  which  I  had  neither  time  nor  inclination 
to  answer.  The  next  morning,  it  being  Mr.  O.'s  turn,  I 
lectured  and  preached.  The  magistrates  were  present. 
The  congregation  was  very  large,  and  light  and  life  fled  all 
around.  In  the  afternoon,  Mr.  B.  ofliciated.  T  attended. 
He  began  his  prayers  as  usual ;  but  in  the  midst  of  them, 
naming  me  by  name,  he  entreated  the  Lord  to  forgive  the 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  267 

dishonor  that  had  been  put  upon  him,  by  my  being  suffered 
to  preach  in  that  pulpit.  And,  that  all  might  know  what  rea- 
son he  had  to  put  up  such  a  petition,  about  the  middle  of 
his  sermon,  he  not  only  urged  that  I  was  a  curate  of  the 
Church  of  England,  but  also  quoted  a  passage  or  two,  out  of 
my  first  printed  sermons,  which  he  said  were  grossly  Armi- 
nian.  Most  of  the  congregation  seemed  surprised  and  chag- 
rined, especially  his  good-natured  colleague,  Mr.  O.,  who, 
immediately  after  the  sermon,  without  consulting  me  in  the 
least,  stood  up  and  gave  notice  that  Mr.  Whitefield  would 
preach  in  about  half  an  hour.  The  interval  being  so  short, 
the  magistrates  returned  to  the  Sessions  house,  and  the  con- 
gregation patiently  waited,  big  with  expectation  of  hearing 
my  resentment.  At  the  time  appointed,  I  went  up,  and  took 
no  other  notice  of  the  good  man's  ill-timed  zeal,  than  to  ob- 
serve in  some  part  of  my  discourse,  that  if  the  good  old 
gentleman  had  seen  some  of  my  later  writings,  in  which  I 
had  corrected  several  of  my  former  mistakes,  he  would  not 
have  expressed  himself  in  such  strong  terms.  The  people 
being  thus  diverted  from  the  controversy  with  man,  were 
deeply  impressed  with  what  they  heard  from  the  word  of 
God.  All  was  hushed,  and  more  than  solemn.  On  the 
morrow,  the  magistrates  sent  for  me,  expressed  themselves 
quite  concerned  at  the  treatment  I  had  met  with,  and  begged 
me  to  accept  the  freedom  of  the  city.  But  of  this,  enough." 
"  This  triumph,"  says  Southey,  "Whitefield  obtained  as 
much  by  that  perfect  self-command,  which  he  always  pos- 
sessed in  public,  as  by  his  surpassing  oratory."  "  Mr.  O." 
(the  Rev.  James  Ogilvie,)  gives  substantially  the  same  ac- 
count, except  that  he  omits  whatever  was  discreditable  to  his 
colleague.* 

Few  other  ministers  of  the  established  church,  if  any, 
treated  Whitefield  so  rudely  as  Bisset ;  but  many  of  them 
opposed  him.  Willison,  of  Dundee,  testified  :  "He  is  hated 
and  spoken  against,  by  all  the  Episcopal  party  ;  and  even  the 
most  of  our  clergy  do  labor  to  diminish  and  expose  him. 
This  is  not  to  be  much  wondered  at,  seeing  his  incessant 
labors  for  Christ  and  souls  is  such  a  reproof  to  them.  Be 
sides,  what  he  says  publicly  against  the  sending  out  of  uncon- 
verted ministers,  and  their  preaching  an  unknown  Christ, 
this  must  be  galling  to  carnal  men."f     However  glad  some 

*  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  281.  t  Ibid.,  p.  282. 


268  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Others  may  have  been  at  first,  to  have  Whitefield  draw 
crowds  to  the  kirk,  rather  than  to  the  Seceders,  it  was  only 
the  more  pious  that  were  his  enduring  friends  ;  and  doubt- 
less some,  even  of  them,  feared  the  consequences  of  his 
measures,  and  lent  their  influence  to  his  opposers.  "•  But 
for  him,"  as  Philip  well  observes,  "  the  moderate  party 
would  have  held  the  ascendant  "  in  the  established  church  ; 
vital  piety  would  have  been  obstructed  by  acts  of  the  As- 
sembly, and  sneered  into  obscurity,  and  that  church  would 
have  been  thoroughly  corrupted.  At  least,  nothing  but  an 
influence  like  that  which  he  exerted,  could  have  prevented 
such  results. 

About  the  end  of  October*,  he  left  Edinburgh,  and  passing 
through  Wales,  where  he  was  married,  reached  London 
early  in  December.  He  spent  the  winter  and  spring  in 
England,  in  his  usual  labors,  and  with  his  usual  success. 
Meanwhile,  greater  things  than  he  had  seen  there,  were  tak- 
ing place  in  Scotland. 

Eebruary  18,  1742,  an  "extraordinary  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit"  commenced  at  Cambuslang,  a  little  parish 
about  four  miles  southeast  from  Glasgow,  of  which  the  Rev. 
William  McCulloch,  a  correspondent  and  admirer  of  Ed- 
wards, "a  man  of  considerable  parts  and  great  piety,"  was 
pastor.  "  This  concern,"  says  Rev.  John  Hamilton,  "  ap- 
peared with  some  circumstances  very  unusual  among  us  ;  to 
wit,  severe  bodily  agonies,  outcryings  and  faintings  in  the 
congregation.  This  made  the  report  of  it  spread  like  fire, 
and  drew  vast  multitudes  of  people  from  all  quarters  to  that 
place  ;  and  I  believe,  in  less  than  two  months  after  the  com- 
mencement of  it,  there  were  few  parishes  within  twelve  miles 
of  Cambuslang,  but  had  some  more  or  fewer  awakened  there 
to  a  very  deep,  piercing  sense  of  sin  ;  and  many  to  a  much 
greater  distance."  Robe,  of  Kilsyth,  says  :  —  "  The  bodies 
of  some  of  the  awakened  are  seized  with  trembling,  fainting, 
hysterisms  in  some  iew  women,  and  with  convulsive  motions 
in  some  others,  arising  from  that  apprehension  and  fear  of  the 
wrath  of  God,  [which]  they  are  convinced  they  are  under 
and  liable  to,  because  of  their  sins.  They  have  a  quick  ap- 
prehension of  the  greatness  and  dreadfulness  of  this  wrath, 
before  they  are  alfected."  He  believed,  too,  that  these 
effects  of  conviction  were  not  altogether  new  in  Scotland  ; 
having  attended  the  great  revival  in  the  west  of  Scotland  in 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  269 

1625-1630.  It  was  estimated  that  these  bodily  effects  did 
not  appear  in  more  than  one  fifth,  some  said  not  more  than 
one  eighth,  of  the  awakened.  As  no  difference  could  be 
discovered  between  the  mental  exercises  of  those  who  were 
thus  overcome  and  those  who  were  not,  the  ministers  friend- 
ly to  the  revival  supposed  them  to  be  only  the  natural  effects 
of  strong  feeling,  operating  on  persons  whose  constitutions 
were  peculiarly  susceptible.  As  the  revival  advanced,  they 
became  less  frequent,  and  nearly  disappeared. 

The  awakening  next  appeared  in  Kilsyth,  a  parish  of 
"above  eleven  hundred  examinable  persons,"  about  nine 
miles  northeast  from  Glasgow,  where  Mr.  Robe  had  been 
settled  in  1713.  "  The  most  part  of  them,"  he  says, 
"have  attended  upon  public  ordinances  and  means  of  instruc- 
tion as  well  as  any  about  them.  The  most  of  them  who  are 
about  or  under  forty  years,  have  attained  such  a  measure  of 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  religion,  as  renders  them  infe- 
rior to  few  of  their  station  and  education."  On  hearing  of 
the  revival  at  Cambuslang,  he  sometimes  spoke  of  it  to  his 
congregation,  and,  as  he  afterwards  learned,  not  without  some 
good  fruit ;  though  few  of  his  people  went  there,  and  none 
of  them  were  manifestly  awakened.  There  was,  however, 
an  increasing  seriousness,  and  proposals  for  reviving  societies 
for  prayer,  which  had  been  intermitted.  On  Saturday  morn- 
ing, April  16,  the  Rev.  John  Willison,  of  Dundee,  preached 
at  Kilsyth  on  his  return  from  Cambuslang,  where  he  had 
been  spending  about  a  week.  Several,  as  it  afterwards  ap- 
peared, were  awakened  by  the  sermon.  The  next  day,  Mr. 
Robe  preached  on  the  desirableness  of  regeneration.  He 
felt  "  more  than  ordinary  tenderness  in  reading  the  text,  and 
could  scarce  do  it  without  tears  and  emotion."  He  saw 
much  seriousness  among  his  hearers.  During  the  last  week 
in  April,  he  visited  the  families  in  a  part  of  the  parish  where 
there  appeared  to  be  more  than  ordinary  seriousness,  and 
about  the  same  time,  heard  that  several  young  girls,  from  ten 
to  sixteen  years  of  age,  had  been  observed  meeting  for  prayer 
in  an  outhouse.  May  9th,  which  was  the  Sabbath,  he  found 
that  two  of  his  people  were  awakened.  On  the  12th,  he 
preached  at  Cambuslang,  where  he  saw  "a  great  day  of  the 
Mediator's  power."  Returning  by  a  shorter  but  unfrequent- 
ed way,  he  found  a  manufacturing  family  with  which  he  was 
unacquainted,  in  which  six  of  the  servants  had  been  awakened 
23* 


270  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

at  Cambuslang  ;  and  while  he  was  there,  six  others  were 
seized  with  deep  and  pungent  convictions.  May  16,  Mr. 
Robe  continued  his  course  of  sermons  on  regeneration  ;  and 
while  urging  its  importance  in  the  afternoon,  "an  extraordi- 
nary power  of  the  Spirit  from  on  high  accompanied  the 
word  preached."  About  thirty  were  found  to  be  awakened, 
many  of  whom  were  constrained  by  their  distress  to  cry  out. 
After  the  sermon,  the  exercises  were  prolonged,  Mr.  Robe 
sang  and  prayed,  and  then  attempted  to  address  them,  but 
his  voice  was  drowned  in  their  cries  and  groans.  He  direct- 
ed that  they  should  be  brought  to  his  closet,  one  by  one, 
while  the  precentor  and  some  of  the  elders  sang  and  prayed 
with  those  in  the  kirk,  where,  to  cut  off  occasion  for  re- 
proach, he  directed  that  no  exhortation  should  be  given. 
Wednesday,  May  19,  he  says,  "  We  had  a  sermon  for  the 
first  time  upon  a  week  day.  I  preached,  as  did  the  Rev. 
Mr.  John  Warden,  minister  of  the  gospel  at  Campsie,  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  John  McLaurin,  minister  of  the  gospel  at 
Glasgow,  who  had  come  hither  the  night  before  at  my  invi- 
tation. The  number  of  the  awakened  this  day,  were  as  ma- 
ny as  were  upon  the  Lord's  day.  The  greatest  number  was 
from  the  parish  of  Kirkintillock.  There  were  also  some 
from  the  parishes  of  Campsie  and  Cumbernauld.  The  num- 
ber of  the  awakened  belonging  to  this  parish,  amounted  this 
week  to  forty." 

Meanwhile,  similar  blessings  were  descending  on  other 
parishes.  At  Kirkintillock,  deep  impressions  were  made  on 
many  minds  in  April,  by  the  fact  that  a  company  of  children 
had  begun  to  meet  in  a  barn  for  prayer.  The  Rev.  James 
Burnside  inquired  carefully  into  their  case,  and  frequently 
met  with  them.  May  20,  he,  Mr.  McLaurin  and  Mr.  Robe 
all  preached,  and  many  were  awakened.  At  Auchenloch,  in 
the  parish  of  Calder,  four  miles  northwest  from  Glasgow, 
fourteen  were  awakened,  and  "  there  was  a  great  cry  in  the 
congregation,"  May  11,  under  the  preaching  of  the  pastor, 
the  Rev.  James  Warden.  At  Badernock,  which  lies  north 
and  west  from  Calder,  where  there  was  no  pastor,  James  For- 
syth, the  pious  schoolmaster,  began  in  February  to  labor 
with  new  diligence  for  the  conversion  of  his  pupils.  His 
exhortations  soon  began  to  take  effect  ;  some  of  the  older 
people  were  awakened  by  observing  the  seriousness  of  the 
children  ;  others,  by  visiting  Cambuslang  and  other  parishes  ; 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  271 

and  in  a  short  time  there  was  manifestly  a  revival  there.  In- 
deed, in  every  parish  for  some  distance  around  Glasgow, 
there  were  more  or  less  awakened,  and  hopeful  beginnings  in 
other  parts  of  Scotland  ;  and  wherever  it  had  commenced,  it 
was  going  on  with  increasing  power,  when  Whitefield  return- 
ed from  London. 

He  arrived  at  Leith  on  the  third  of  June,  and  proceeded 
directly  to  Edinburgh.  "  He  was  received,"  says  Gillies, 
"  by  great  numbers,  and  by  some  persons  of  distinction,  with 
much  joy,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  and  hearing  more 
and  more  of  the  happy  fruits  of  his  ministry.  He  continued 
to  preach  twice  a  day,  as  usual,  in  the  Hospital  Park,  where 
a  number  of  seats  and  shades,  in  the  form  of  an  amphithea- 
tre, were  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  his  hearers." 
He  also  heard  other  sounds  than  those  of  joy,  or  of  peni- 
tence. June  6,  which  was  the  Sabbath  after  his  arrival, 
Adam  Gib,  one  of  the  Seceders,  in  the  New  Church  at 
Bristow,  Edinburgh,  publicly  warned  his  hearers  "against 
countenancing  the  ministry  of  Mr.  George  Whitefield." 
He,  however,  paid  no  attention  to  his  opposers,  but  contin- 
ued his  triumphs  at  Edinburgh,  and  at  other  places  to  which 
he  was  invited.  The  revival,  too,  continued  to  spread  and 
gain  strength,  in  places  which  he  never  visited.  McCullock 
invited  him  to  Cambuslang.  He  went,  and  having  preached 
to  a  vast  assembly  at  Glasgow  in  the  morning,  preached  three 
times  at  Cambuslang  the  first  day.  The  last  of  these  ser- 
mons he  commenced  at  nine  o'clock  at  night,  and  concluded 
at  eleven.  McCullock  then  preached  till  past  one,  "and 
even  then  they  could  hardly  persuade  the  people  to  depart. 
All  night  in  the  fields  might  be  heard  the  voice  of  prayer  and 
praise."*  Mr.  McCullock  wrote,  July  14, —  "It  is  not  yet 
quite  five  months  since  this  work  began  in  this  place  ;  and 
in  that  time  I  have  reason  to  think  that  above  five  hun- 
dred souls  have  been  awakened  here,  and  brought  under  deep 

*  Such  "  night  meetings  "  may  grow  very  naturally  out  of  high  religious 
feeling,  and  are  not  to  be  condemned  as  necessarily  sinful.  They  are  cer- 
tainly much  less  objectionable  than  "night  meetings  "  in  theatres,  ball- 
rooms, and  the  like.  Yet  there  is  always  danger  that  long  continued  ex- 
citement and  want  of  sleep  will  produce  a  feverish  state  of  the  brain  and 
nerves,  in  which  the  mind  will  not  act  soberly  or  safely.  Experience  has 
taught  the  judicious  friends  of  revivals  in  New  England,  to  be  very  deci- 
ded in  guarding  against  unseasonable  hours.  Few  would  allow  meetings 
to  continue  much  later  than  nine  o'clock. 


272  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

convictions  of  sin,  and  are  now  mostly,  I  believe,  savingly 
brought  home  to  God.  I  do  not  in  this  number  include 
those  that  have  been  pretending  to  be  under  spiritual  distress, 
and  have  been  discovered  to  be  mere  counterfeits  ;  nor  those 
that  appeared  to  have  nothing  in  their  exercises  but  a  dread 
of  hell,  which,  you  know,  when  it  goes  no  further,  never 
comes  to  any  saving  issue.  Nor  do  I  include  those  who 
have  been  awakened  by  means  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  sermons 
in  this  place,  because  I  cannot  pretend  to  compute  them. 
He  has  preached  seventeen  sermons  here  since  he  came  last 
to  Scotland.  He  and  Mr.  Webster  *  assisted  at  dispensing 
the  Lord's  Supper  here  last  Lord's  day,f  and  the  day  be- 
fore and  after,  and  were  both  much  assisted  and  counte- 
nanced in  their  sermons  and  exhortations,  and  a  more  than 
ordinary  concern  appeared  among  the  people  all  along  ;  and 
particularly  the  time  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  sermon  on  Mon- 
day, there  was  a  very  great  weeping  and  mourning  among  the 
auditory."  The  audience  was  estimated  at  twenty  thousand. 
"  The  whole  work  was  without  doors,  in  the  open  air. 
There  were  two  tents,  and  two  ministers  employed  in  speak- 
ing in  different  places  all  day  ;  except  in  the  evening,  when 
Mr.  Whitefield  preached  alone  to  all  the  vast  multitude  then 
present.  The  tables,  or  services,  were  seventeen  in  num- 
ber, each,  except  the  last,  which  was  not  quite  full,  contain- 
ing about  one  hundred  or  more."  Whitefield  says,  "  On 
Saturday  I  preached  to  above  twenty  thousand  people.  In 
my  prayer,  the  power  of  God  came  down  and  was  greatly 
felt.  In  my  two  sermons,  there  was  yet  more  power.  On 
Sabbath,  scarce  ever  was  such  a  sight  seen  in  Scotland. 
There  were  undoubtedly  upwards  of  twenty  thousand  people. 
A  brae,  or  hill,  near  the  manse  of  Cambuslang,  seemed 
formed  by  Providence  for  containing  a  large  congregation. 
Two  tents  were  set  up,  and  the  holy  sacrament  was  adminis- 
tered in  the  fields.  The  communion  table  was  in  the  field. 
Many  ministers  attended  to  preach  and  assist,  all  enlivening 
and  enlivened  by  one  another.  When  I  began  to  serve  a 
table,  the  power  of  God  was  felt  by  numbers  ;  but  the  peo- 
ple so  crowded  upon  me,  that  I  was  obliged  to  desist,  and 
go  to  preach  at  one  of  the  tents,  whilst  the  ministers  served 
the  rest  of  the   tables.     God   was  with  them   and  with  his 

»  Of  Edinburgh.  t  July  11. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  273 

people.  On  Monday  morning  I  preached  to  near  as  many 
as  before  ;  but  such  a  universal  stir  I  never  saw  before. 
The  motion  fled  as  swift  as  lightning  from  one  end  of  the 
auditory  to  another.  You  might  have  seen  thousands  bathed 
in  tears  ;  some  at  the  same  time  wringing  their  hands,  others 
almost  swooning,  and  others  crying  out,  and  mourning  over  a 
pierced  Saviour.  But  I  must  not  attempt  to  describe  it. 
In  the  afternoon,  the  concern  again  was  very  great.  Much 
prayer  had  been  previously  put  up  to  the  Lord.  All  night, 
in  different  companies,  you  might  have  heard  persons  praying 
to  and  praising  God."  Such  was  the  happiness  and  spiritual 
benefit  of  this  occasion,  that  though  the  communion  was 
usually  observed  only  once  a  year  in  the  same  parish,  Mr. 
Webster  proposed,  and  Mr.  Whitefield  desired,  to  hold  an- 
other communion  season  in  a  few  weeks.  McCuUock  and 
his  elders,  after  some  deliberation,  consented,  and  August 
15  was  appointed  for  that  purpose. 

The  Associate  Presbytery  were  filled  with  consternation. 
Whitefield's  labors,  in  the  pulpits  of  the  established  church, 
and  at  the  invitation  of  its  ministers,  were  producing  the 
very  effects  that  the  Erskines  had  predicted,  —  drawing  men 
away  from  the  Seceders,  and  giving  influence  to  their  oppo- 
nents. Men  were  fast  forgetting  them  and  their  "  testimo- 
ny "  against  the  corruptions  of  the  church,  and  learning  to 
regard  that  corrupt  church  as  God's  favored  channel  of  spir- 
itual blessings.  Something,  they  thought,  must  be  done,  or 
the  cause  of  reform  would  sink  into  obscurity  and  be  ruined. 
They  met  at  Dunfermline,  and  on  the  15th  of  July,  publish- 
ed their  "  Act  anent  a  Public  Fast."  This  act  sets  forth, 
that  Scotland  stands  indispensably  bound,  by  the  word  of 
God  and  sundry  covenants,  to  preserve  entire  the  reformed 
religion  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  ;  that  the  present  gener- 
ation, like  their  fathers,  abjure  and  burn  those  covenants,  in- 
vade the  rights  of  the  Lord's  people  by  the  act  restoring 
patronages,  refuse  to  give  an  explicit  testimony  to  the  great 
truths  of  God  that  are  now  impugned,  and  even  censure 
those  who  have  testified  doctrinally  and  judicially  against  their 
sinful  proceedings,  and  do  what  they  can  to  bury  a  testimony 
for  the  cause  of  Christ,  by  pretending  to  depose  several  min- 
isters of  this  Presbvtery  for  opposing  the  corruptions  of  the 
church  ;  that  infidelity,  atheism,  and  immorality  abound  and 
are  increasing  ;  that,    "  therefore,  it  is   no  wonder   that    the 


274  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Lord  hath,  in  his  righteous  displeasure,  left  this  church  and 
land  to  give  such  an  open  discovery  of  their  apostasy  from 
him,  in  the  fond  reception  that  Mr.  George  Whitefield  has 
met  with,  notwithstanding  it  is  notourly  known  that  he  is  a 
priest  of  the  Church  of  England,  who  hath  sworn  the  oath  of 
supremacy,  and  abjured  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  ; 
endeavors,  by  his  lax  toleration  principles,  to  pull  down  the 
hedges  of  government  and  discipline,  which  the  Lord  has 
planted  about  his  vineyard  in  this  land  ;  and,  in  the  account 
he  gives  of  his  life,  makes  a  plain  discovery  of  the  grossest 
enthusiasm  and  most  palpable  error  and  delusion  touching 
his  own  experience,  with  reference  to  the  effectual  applica- 
tion of  the  redemption  purchased  by  Christ ;  yet,  because 
he  is  found  a  fit  tool  for  bearing  down  a  testimony  for  the 
reformation  principles  of  this  church,  he  is  highly  commend- 
ed and  extolled  by  several  ministers  in  their  printed  letters, 
and  likewise  received  into  full  communion  with  them  ;  and 
thus,  because  they  would  choose  their  own  way,  in  opposi- 
tion to  our  known  principles,  the  Lord  hath  also  chosen  their 
delusions,  in  permitting  the  minds  of  multitudes,  through  the 
land,  to  be  corrupted  from  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ,  by 
departing  from  the  faith,  and  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits, 
who,  by  good  words  and  fair  speeches,  deceive  the  hearts  of 
the  simple  ;"  that  people  are  imposed  upon  by  ministers, 
who,  "notwithstanding  all  the  ordinary  symptoms  of  a  delu- 
sion attending  the  present  awful  work  upon  the  bodies  and 
spirits  of  men,  yet  cry  it  up  as  a  great  work  of  God,"  thus 
attempting  "  to  deceive,  if  it  were  possible,  the  very  elect, 
out  of  the  profession  of  their  faith,  and  a  testimony  for  our 
covenanted  reformation  principles,  as  if  it  were  nothing  but 
bigotry  and  party  zeal,"  the  promoters  of  the  work  being 
"as  far  from  acknowledging  the  former  and  present  sins  of 
this  church  and  land,  as  they  were  before  this  work  began  ;" 
that  "  bitter  outcryings,  faintings,  severe  bodily  pains,  con- 
vulsions, voices,  visions,  and  revelations,  are  the  usual  symp- 
toms of  a  delusive  spirit;"  that  there  is  nothing  in  this  work 
to  distinguish  it  "  from  the  common  operations  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  upon  hypocrites,  or  from  the  delusions  of  Satan," 
but,  on  the  contrary,  it  produces  "  the  warmest  opposition 
and  aversion  to  a  testimony  "  in  favor  of  the  truths  for  which 
the  Seceders  were  contending,  "contrary  to  the  practice  of 
scripture  converts  and  the  experience  of  the  saints  of  God  in 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  275 

this  land,  who,  upon  their  conversion,  still  espoused  the  tes- 
timony of  their  day,  and  contended  for  the  present  truth." 
For  these,  "and  many  weighty  causes  and  considerations," 
the  Presbytery  appointed  Wednesday,  August  4,  "  to  be 
observed  as  a  day  of  solemn  humiliation  in  all  their  congrega- 
tions, and  by  all  under  their  inspection,  earnestly  beseeching 
and  obtesting  all  and  each  of  them  "  to  examine  themselves, 
and  to  pray,  among  other  things  which  are  mentioned,  that 
God  "would  revive  a  covenanted  work  of  reformation,  and 
direct  this  Presbytery  in  essaymg  to  lift  up  a  testimony  for 
the  same  ;  that  he  would  preserve  all  the  lovers  of  Zion  from 
being  soon  shaken  in  their  minds  by  the  spirit  of  error  and 
delusion  that  is  now  gone  abroad  amongst  us,  and  determine 
them  to  mark  those  that  cause  divisions  and  offences  by  cry- 
ing up  a  boundless  liberty  of  conscience  in  all  sects,  contrary 
to  the  doctrine  we  have  learned  from  the  word  of  God  and 
sworn  in  these  lands,  and  avoid  them  ;  that  he  would  purge 
his  church  of  a  corrupt  ministry,"  "be  merciful  to  his  wit- 
nessing remnant,"  and  "  preserve  them  from  dividing  amongst 
themselves,"  about  unimportant  matters.* 

Robe  pronounced  this  act  "  the  most  heaven-daring  paper 
that  hath  been  published  by  any  set  of  men  in  Britain,  these 
three  hundred  years  past."  "You  declare,"  he  says,  "the 
work  of  God  to  be  a  delusion,  and  the  work  of  the  grand 
deceiver.  Now,  my  dear  brethren,  for  whom  I  tremble, 
have  you  been  at  due  pains  to  knovv  the  nature  and  circum- 
stances of  this  work  .■'  Have  you  taken  the  trouble  to  go  to 
any  of  these  places  where  the  Lord  has  appeared  in  his  glory 
and  majesty  .''  Have  you  so  much  as  written  to  any  of  the 
ministers  to  receive  information  of  it  .''  Is  it  not  amazing 
rashness,  without  inquiry  or  trial,  to  pronounce  that  a  work 
of  the  devil,  which,  for  any  thing  you  know,  may  be  the 
work  of  the  infinitely  good  and  Holy  Spirit  .'^" 

They,  however,  felt  no  need  of  any  such  inquiries  as  Robe 
urged  upon  them.  Their  principles  enabled  them  to  decide 
beforehand,  that  the  work  could  not  be  of  God,  but  must  be 
of  Satan.  They  believed  that  the  work  of  God  must  begin 
with  the  reformation  of  the  church,  and  that  he  would  carry 
it  on  only  "  in  a  way  of  solemn  covenanting,"  as  in  the  days 
of  their  ancestors.     Ralph  Erskine  argued,  that  "  aversion 

*  Whitefield  Tracts.   O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


276  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

from,  or  opposition  to,  the  testimony  of  the  time,"  was  op- 
position to  God,  and  that  a  conversion  which  "  draws  men 
off  from  any  of  the  ways  of  God,"  must  be  "  a  false  conver- 
sion." "  The  testimony  of"  that  "time,"  they  were  confi- 
dent, was  the  testimony  which  the  Associate  Presbytery  was 
bearing  in  favor  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  and 
against  the  corruptions  of  the  church  ;  and  therefore  the  con- 
versions under  Whitefield,  which  drew  men  away  from  that 
Presbytery,  to  worship  in  the  churches  of  the  corrupt  estab- 
lishment, must  be  false  conversions,  and  the  whole  work  must 
be  opposition  to  God. 

But  Adam  Gib,  though  he  said  no  more  than  is  implied  in 
the  Act  anent  a  Fast,  or  in  Erskine's  sermons,  made  himself 
the  most  notorious  of  the  Seceders.  He  published*  his 
"  Warning  against  countenancing  the  Ministry  of  Mr.  George 
Whitefield,"  with  a  preface,  and  an  appendix,  "  wherein  are 
shown,"  the  tiilepage  declares,  "  that  Mr.  Whitefield  is  no 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ ;  that  his  call  and  coming  to  Scot- 
land are  scandalous  ;  that  his  practice  is  disorderly,  and  fer- 
tile of  disorder  ;  that  his  whole  doctrine  is,  and  his  success 
must  be,  diabolical ;  so  that  people  ought  to  avoid  him,  from 
duty  to  God,  to  the  church,  to  themselves,  to  their  fellow- 
men,  to  posterity,  and  to  him."  The  main  strength  of  the 
work  lies  in  the  appendix,  in  which  he  argues  : 

"That  Mr.  Whitefield  is  no  minister  of  Christ,  appears  from  the 
manner  wherein  that  office  he  professes  to  bear  is  conveyed  to  him. 
He  derives  it  from  a  diocesan  bishop,  who  derives  his  office  from  the 
king,  and  the  king  professes  not  to  be  a  church  officer.  —  The  manner 
of  conveyance  is  merely  human,  and  so  distinct  from,  and  opposite 
unto,  a  conveyance  from  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  his  institution." 
"Mr.  Whitefield,  in  swearing  the  oath  of  Supremacy,  has  sworn  that 
Christ  is  not  the  supreme  and  sole  head  of  his  church;  and,  in  this 
condition,  he  cannot  possibly  be  a  minister  of  this  glorious  head." 
"He  who  professes  to  preach  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  declares 
not  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  but,  on  the  contrary,  discredits  and  con- 
demns part  of  it,  and  declares  and  promotes  the  counsel  of  Satan,  to 
the  ruin  of  souls  and  the  subversion  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ;  it  can- 
not but  be  unwarrantable,  provoking  to  God,  and  a  path  to  swift  perdi- 
tion, to  countenance  his  ministry,  and  drink  in  his  doctrine.  But  this 
charge,  in  all  its  parts,  lies  against  Mr.  Whitefield ;  and  therefore  the 

*  Philip  speaks  as  if  this  was  done  before  Whitefield's  first  visit  to  Cam- 
buslang;  but  he  was  there  at  the  great  communion  season,  July  11,  and 
Gib's  preface  is  dated  July  '-i'A.  Gib  indeed  says,  that  his  Warning  was 
"published"  in  the  Bristow  church,  June  (i ;  but  his  preface  shows  that  it 
was  then  only  published  orally,  from  the  pulpit. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  277 

conclusion  obtains  in  the  present  case."  "  He  condemns  not  bigotry 
and  party  zeal,  merely  as  set  in  opposition  to  a  due  concern  about  the 
appurtenances  of  Christ's  visible  kingdom  of  grace,  but  as  he  sets  it  in 
opposition  to  a  concern  about  the  invisible  grace  of  Christ.  It  is  in 
tiiis  light  that  he  condemns  it;  which  shows  us  that,  under  the  names 
of  bigotry  and  party  zeal,  schismatical  and  seditious,  Mr,  Whitefield 
condemns  all  concern  and  duty  anent  the  visible  kingdom  of  the  Me- 
diator, as  such.  This,  then,  is  what  he  calls  earthly,  sensual,  devilish. 
—  If  this  be  not  a  discrediting  and  condemning  of  the  counsel  of  God, 
there  never  was  such  a  thing.  If  this  be  not  a  declaring  and  promoting 
the  counsel  of  Satan  on  earth,  it  was  never  declared  nor  promoted  in 
hell."  "  As  divine  revelation,  so  whatsoever  is  thereby  intimated  and 
ordained,  concur  unto  both  these  noble  ends,  the  salvation  of  men,  in 
subordination  unto  the  glory  of  God.  And  it  is  God  Mediator,  into 
whose  hands  this  revenue  of  glory  doth  immediately  come.  Whatso- 
ever glory  he  acquires,  is  a  kingly  glory.  The  glorifying  of  his  priest- 
hood must  respect  him  as  a  priest  upon  his  throne.  Zech.  4 :  13. 
The  glorifying  of  his  prophetical  oflSce  must  respect  him  as  one  hav- 
ing authority.  Mat.  7:  29.  For,  when  he  stands  and  feeds,  (with 
knowledge,)  it  is  in  the  majesty  of  the  name  of  the  Lord  his  God. 
Micah.  5:  4.  Thus  the  glory  of  his  other  offices  is  gathered  unto  his 
kingly  office,  and  all  concurs  unto  a  kingly  glory ;  whence  it  is  evident, 
that  any  glorifying  of  him  whatever,  that  is  not  ultimately  aimed  at  hia 
kingly  office,  is  nothing  better  than  a  hypocritical  show,  that  cannot 
meet  Avith  acceptance.  Moreover,  this  kingly  glory  is  twofold,  ac- 
cording to  his  twofold  mediatorial  kingdom,  visible  and  invisible. 
Though  his  visible  kingdom  is  to  continue  but  for  a  set  time,  yet,  dar- 
ing that  time,  there  can  be  nothing  more  indispensable  than  the  af- 
fairs of  church  government.  Let  men  revile  these  externals  never  so 
much,  they  are  of  no  small  account  with  Zion's  king.  The  doctrine 
and  maintenance  of  church  government  is  of  as  essential  necessity  to 
the  Mediator's  glory  in  the  church,*  as  the  doctrine  of  grace  is  unto 
the  salvation  of  men.  And  which  is  of  the  highest  importance,  the 
divine  glory,  or  the  salvation  of  all  men  7  It  will  not  believe  with 
me,  that  any  are  rightly  concerned  about  the  salvation  of  themselves 
or  others,  while  contemning  the  visible  glory  of  the  Mediator ;  while 
contemning  the  doctrine,  being  and  exercise  of  church  government, 
that  promote  the  same.  It  is  not  the  salvation  of  God  that  those  men 
do  mean.  That  salvation  which  is  not  actually  subordinate  unto  the 
divine  glory,  is  a  cheat.  And  that  salvation  which  reconciles  not  men 
unto  the  doctrine  and  maintenance  of  church  government,  in  so  fat 
renounces  subordination  to  the  divine  glory."  "His  errors  communi- 
cate diabolical  corruption  unto  those  very  truths  he  reserves,  as  to  their 
immediate  influence."  "The  doctrine  of  grace  that  Mr.  Whitefield 
retains,  cannot  possibly  discover  the  true  Christ,  because  his  back  is 
towards  him,  in  flouting  away  the  doctrine  that  discovers  Christ  a  king 
of  a  visible  kingdom.  It  avails  nothing  to  say  that  the  doctrine  of 
grace,  by  itself,  may  discover  Christ  in  his  invisible  kingdom;  for  his 
kingly  character,  with  respect  to  both  his  visible  and  invisible  king- 

*  By  "the  Mediator's  glory  in  the  church,"  Gib  means,  the  gloriousness 
of  church  courts. 

24 


278  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

doms,  is,  during:  the  gospel  day,  one  character,  indivisible,  and  if  any 
clip  it  through,  he  spoils  it  all.  But  Mr.  Whitefield  uses  the  doctrine 
of  grace  to  discredit  one  half  of  that  character,  one  half  of  that  king ; 
and  therefore,  as  Christ  cannot  be  divided,  seeing  Mr.  Whitefield's 
doctrine  directly  fights  against  him  in  part,  it  is  not  possible  that  it  can 
truly  discover  him  at  all.  Mr.  Whitefield  and  his  followers  have 
much  talk  about  Christ;  but  what  Christ  must  it  be?  His  doctrine 
cannot  discover  the  true  Christ,  who  died  at  Jerusalem,  as  we  have 
seen.  It  must  therefore  be  a  notional  Christ.  Yes,  every  Christ  that 
is  not  Christ  a  king,  in  a  visible  kingdom,  must  be  a  notional  Christ. 
O,  then,  how  does  the  scene  cast  up  ?  The  doctrine  of  grace,  that 
Mr.  Whitefield  publishes,  is  carried  off  from  its  true  posture,  connex- 
ion and  use,  and  applied  to  a  diabolical  use,  viz:  to  create  a  Christ  in 
people's  imaginations,  as  a  competitor  with  the  true  Christ."  "The 
doctrine  of  grace,  as  diabolically  perverted  through  Mr.  Whitefield,  is 
versant  about  such  a  Christ  as  is  merely  a  Saviour;  and  it  hurries 
men  off  in  quest  of  such  spiritual  influences,  convictions,  conversions, 
consolations  and  assurances,  as  are  unconcerned  with  and  hostile  unto 
the  Mediator's  visible  glory.*  But  such  a  Christ,  such  influences, 
convictions,  conversions,  consolations,  assurances,  are  not  of  God. 
They  can  be  no  better  than  idols  set  up  in  men's  imaginations. 
Hence  it  is,  that  as  those  who  hear  Mr.  Whitefield,  do  thereby  ap- 
prove the  satanical  cast  of  his  doctrine,  and  expose  themselves  unto 
its  influence,  so  therein,  at  best,  they  but  hunt  after  and  worship  idols. 
It  is  therefore  to  be  fearfully  expected,  that  God  will,  in  judgment, 
answer  them  accordingly,  and  send  them  an  idol  Christ,  idol  conver- 
eions,  &c.  according  to  their  lust."  "  But  how  is  it  that  this  judgment 
of  God  must  be  accomplished .''  Certainly,  it  must  be  by  a  spirit. 
The  Spirit  of  God  it  cannot  be ;  and  the  spirit  of  man  can  be  only  the 
melancholy  subject,  and  not  the  author,  of  such  operations.  It  re- 
mains, then,  that  God's  great  executioner,  Satan,  must  be  employed  in 
the  producing  of  such  effects.  And  what  other  can  be  expected,  from 
the  justice  of  God,  than  that  a  diabolical  doctrine  should  become  the 
channel  of  a  diabolical  spirit  and  influence?"  Satan  "can  enter  no 
further  into  a  man,  than  his  imagination.  It  is  peculiar  to  the  divine 
Spirit,  to  penetrate  into  the  soul.  When  a  man,  under  this  satanical 
influence,  is  affected  by  any  word  of  Scripture,  it  can  hit  only  his  im- 
agination. It  is  not  faith  that  brings  in  the  word  to  his  soul,  but  the 
devil  brings  it  in,  with  hurry,  into  his  fancy. — His  horrors  must  be 
blind,  as  they  will  be  more  glaring  than  what  the  divine  Spirit  occa- 
eions,  just  because  they  are  on  ttie  fancy,  and  must  kindle  it.  The 
miserable  man,  under  such  satanical  influence,  can  have  no  sight  of 
the  true  Christ,  in  the  word  without  him,  by  a  calm  and  quiet  faith. 
The  only  (Christ  he  can  see,  is  formed  by  Satan  on  his  imagination  ;  or 
Satan  gives  himself  out  there  for  the  true  Christ.  And,  as  the  poor 
man's  fancy  may  be  thus  so  kindled  as  to  craze  his  brain,  gathering 
his  animal  spirits  in  a  hurry,  to  attend  the  angel  of  light  that  posses- 
seth  his  fancy,  what  can  he  then  imagine,  but  that  he  is  converted, 
and  in  hi^h  communion  with  God ;  and  can  he  fail  to  be  extatic  and 


*  That  is,  the  gloriousness  of  his  visible  church,  as  seen  in  church  judi- 
catories. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  279 

rapturous  in  his  consolations?  Can  he  fail  to  have  his  imagination 
filled  with  assurance,  when  thus  under  strong  delusions?"  "Tlie  di- 
vine Spirit  doth  improve  human  nature  in  its  general  condition,  as  he 
works  in  a  way  agreeable  to  our  frame  ;  but  the  satanical  spirit  must 
operate  the  reverse  of  all  this.  And  how  can  it  be  otherwise,  seeing 
the  imagination  is  the  first  seat  of  his  influence?  Hence  he  must 
torture  the  animal  frame ;  as  the  divine  Spirit,  on  the  other  hand, 
tames  the  soul ;  and  as  our  Lord,  in  the  days  of  his  flesh,  sent  forth 
his  Spirit  to  chase  out  devils  from  racking  men's  bodies.  Hence  also, 
Satan,  while  kindling  men's  fancies,  must  carry  them  out  under  strong, 
sudden  and  blind  impulses,  frights,  freaks,  raptures,  visions,  revela- 
tions, boastings,  blunders."  "  Satan  cannot  make  use  of  the  whole 
truth.  He  only  deals  with  a  part  of  it,  and  that  for  discrediting  the 
whole.  And  therefore,  wherever  a  person  falls  under  Satan's  use  of 
the  truth,  he  will  soon  cast  up  to  be  unconcerned  about  the  public  dis- 
honors done  to  Jesus ;  he  will  pretend  regard  lo  him  in  his  invisible 
grace,  that  he  may  smother  regard  to  him  in  his  visible  kingdom." 
"And  now,  though  men  should  write  a  thousand  volumes  upon  the 
fine,  the  holy  and  evangelical-like  appearances  of  that  success  which 
attends  the  doctrine  we  have  been  considering;  yet,  after  all,  they  no 
way  vindicate  it,  till  they  overturn  the  arguments  proving  that  it  must 
be  devilish."  "The  diabolical  set  of  the  whole  complex  scheme  is 
what  he  [VVhitefield]  cannot  be  privy  to,  or  sensible  of,  in  this  world, 
till  God  mercifully,  if  ever,  break  Satan's  blinding  snare.  The  proper 
and  designing  author,  then,  of  this  scheme,  whom  we  are  ultimately 
to  consider,  is  not  Mr.  Whitefield,  but  Satan  :  and  thus  our  contend- 
ings  against  Mr.  Whitefield  must  be  proportioned,  not  to  his  design,  but 
Satan's,  while  hereof  he  is  an  effectual,  though  blinded  tool."  "  As  it 
appears  that  God  hath  sent  him  strong  delusion,  that  he  should  believe 
a  lie,  I  look  not  upon  human  argument  as  a  means  of  God's  appoint- 
ment for  rolling  off  the  weight  of  that  judgment.  I  expect  not  that 
he  is  capable  of  being  undeceived,  but  immediately  by  God ;  and 
therefore  I  see  no  duty  that  men  owe  him,  in  the  present  case,  but  to 
avoid  him,  and  pray  for  him."  * 

Such  were  the  arguments  by  which  the  Seceders  justified 
to  their  own  consciences,  and  attempted  to  justify  to  others, 
their  opposition  to  Whitefield.  Gib  does  not  deserve  the 
"  bad  eminence "  among  them,  which  most  writers  have 
awarded  him.  The  assertions  and  arguments  of  the  "  Act 
anent  a  Piibhc  Fast "  are  as  bad  as  any  thing  from  the  pen 
of  Gib  ;  and  if  the  language  is  less  virulent,  it  is  made  so  by 
the  brevity  and  formality  required  in  an  official  document, 
and  not  by  any  dissent  of  the  Associate  Presbytery  from  any 
of  the  views  set  forth  in  the  "  Warning"  and  its  appendix. 
Yet  the  members  of  this  Presbytery  were  some  of  the  most 
excellent  men  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived.     Their  feelings 

*  Whitefield  Tracts,  O.  S.  Ch.  Library. 


280  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

and  conduct  on  this  occasion  were  at  variance  with  their  gen- 
eral chiiracter.*  Fraser  declares,  that  "  they  themselves 
lived  to  repent  of  the  rancor  into  which  the  heat  of  contro- 
versy had  at  first  betrayed  them."f  Gib,  on  his  deathbed, 
wished  that  there  were  no  copies  of  his  pamphlet  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  said  that  if  he  could  recall  every  copy, 
•he  would  burn  them.  The  whole  history  is  a  lamentable 
but  instructive  specimen  of  the  unchristian  absurdities  into 
which  even  a  good  man  may  be  betrayed,  and  in  defence  of 
which  he  may  become  most  conscientiously  zealous,  when 
a  single  idea  gets  entire  possession  of  his  head,  and  "  being 
alone  there,  has  every  thing  in  its  own  way." 

The  Seceders  were  made  the  subjects  of  special  prayer  by 
the  good  people  at  Cambuslang,  when  they  met  to  pray  for 
the  divine  blessing  on  the  approaching  sacramental  season. 
McCullock  has  given  an  account  of  that  season,  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend  :  :j: 

"  The  ministers  that  assisted  at  this  solemnity  were,  Mr. 
Whitefield,  Mr.  Webster  from  Edinburgh,  Mr.  McLaurin 
and  Mr.  Gillies  from  Glasgow,  Mr.  Robe  from  Kilsyth, 
Mr.  Currie  from  Kinglassie,  Mr.  Kneight  from  Irvin,  Mr. 
Bonner  from  Torpichen,  Mr.  Hamilton  from  Douglass,  and 
three  of  the  neighbouring  ministers,  viz.,  IVJr.  Henderson 
from  Blantyre,  Mr.  Maxwell  from  Rutherglen,  and  Mr.  Ad- 
am from  Cathcart.  All  of  them  appeared  to  be  very  much 
assisted  in  their  work.  Four  of  them  preached  on  the  fast 
day,  four  on  Saturday,  on  Sabbath  I  cannot  well  tell  how 
many,  and  five  on  Monday,  on  which  last  day  it  was  compu- 
ted that  about  twenty-four  ministers  and  preachers  were  pres- 
ent. Old  Mr.  Bonner,  though  so  frail  that  he  took  three 
days  to  ride  eighteen  miles  from  Torpichen  to  Cambuslang, 
yet  his  heart  was  so  set  upon  coming  here,  that  he  could  by 
no  means  stay  away,  and  when  he  was  helped  up  to  the  tent, 
preached  three  times  with  great  life  ;  and  returned  with  much 

*  Philip  says  :  "  It  would  be  wrong,  after  havinor  quoted  so  often  ft*om 
Ralph  Erskine's  sermons,  were  I  not  to  say,  even  of  the  sermons  whicli  are 
most  disfigured  with  tirades  against  Whitefield  and  the  revivals,  that  tliey 
are  full  of  evangelical  truth,  and  flaming  with  love  to  immortal  souls,  and 
as  faithful  to  the  conscience,  as  any  that  Whitefield  preached  at  Cambus- 
lang Indeed,  had  they  been  preached  on  the  hrae-hcHd,  at  the  great  sa- 
crament there,  ErsUine  would  as  surely  have  slain  his  hundreds,  as  White- 
field  did  his  thousands." 

\  Quoted  by  Philip. 

t  Christian  History,  Vol.  I.  i>!)7 ;  Glasgow  W.  History,  No.  39. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  281 

satisfaction  and  joy.  Mr.  Whitefield's  sermons  on  Saturday, 
Sabbath,  and  Monday,  were  attended  with  much  power,  par- 
ticularly on  Sabbath  night  about  ten,  and  that  on  Monday  ; 
several  crying  out,  and  a  very  great  but  decent  weeping  and 
mourning  was  observable  through  the  auditory.  On  Sabbath 
evening,  while  he  was  serving  some  tables,  he  appeared  to  be 
so  filled  with  the  love  of  God,  as  to  be  in  a  kind  of  extasy 
or  transport,  and  communicated  with  much  of  that  blessed 
frame.  Time  would  fail  me,  to  speak  of  the  evidences  of 
the  power  of  God  coming  along  with  the  rest  of  the  assist- 
ants. 

"  The  number  of  people  that  were  there  on  Saturday  and 
Monday,  was  very  considerable.  But  the  number  present  at 
the  three  tents  on  the  Lord's  day  was  so  great,  that,  so  far 
as  I  can  hear,  none  ever  saw  the  like  since  the  revolution,  in 
Scotland,  or  even  anywhere  else,  at  any  sacrament  occasion. 
Some  have  called  them  fifty  thousand  ;  some,  forty  thou- 
sand ;  the  lowest  estimate  I  hear  of,  with  which  Mr.  White- 
field  agrees,  who  has  been  much  used  to  great  multitudes  and 
forming  a  judgment  of  their  number,  makes  them  to  have 
been  upwards  of  thirty  thousand. 

"  The  number  of  communicants  appears  to  have  been 
about  three  thousand.  And  some  worthy  of  credit,  and  that 
had  proper  opportunities  to  know,  gave  it  as  their  opinion, 
that  there  was  such  a  blessed  frame  fell  upon  the  people,  that 
if  there  had  been  access  to  get  tokens,  there  would  have 
been  a  thousand  more  communicants  than  what  were.* 

"  This  vast  concourse  of  people,  you  may  easily  imagine, 
came  not  only  from  the  city  of  Glasgow,  and  other  places 
near  by,  but  from  many  places  at  a  considerable  distance. 
It  was  reckoned  there  were  two  hundred  communicants  from 
Edinburgh,  two  hundred  from  Kilmarnock,  a  hundred  from 
Irvin,  a  hundred  from  Stewarton.  It  was  observed,  that 
there  were  some  from  England  and  Ireland  here  at  this  occa- 
sion. A  considerable  number  of  Quakers  were  hearers.  A 
great  many  of  those  that  had  formerly  been   Seceders  were 

*  Every  baptized  person,  not  under  ecclesiastical  censure,  and  having 
passed  examination  as  to  doctrinal  knowledge,  has  a  legal  right  to  the  com- 
munion in  that  church  ;  and  the  amount  of  pious  feeling  in  a  place  is  very 
naturally  estimated  by  the  number  who  come  forward  to  claim  the  privi- 
lege. The  applicant,  however,  must  previously  appeiir  before  the  Church 
Session,  and  obtain  a  "  token  "  of  his  fitness,  which  he  is  to  present  and 
return  at  the  Table. 

24* 


282  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

hearing  the  word,  and  some  of  them  were  communicants. 
A  youth  that  has  a  near  view  to  the  ministry,  and  had  been 
for  some  time  under  great  temptations  that  God's  presence 
was  no  more  to  be  enjoyed,  either  in  the  Church  or  among 
the  Seceders,  communicated  here,  and  returned  with  great 
joy,  full  of  the  love  of  God. 

"  There  was  a  great  deal  of  outward  decency  and  regula- 
tion observable  about  the  tables.  *  Public  worship  began  on 
the  Lord's  day  just  at  half  past  eight  in  the  morning.  My 
action  sermon,  I  think,  was  reasonably  short.  The  third  or 
fourth  table  was  serving  at  twelve  o'clock,  and  the  last  table 
was  serving  about  sunset.  When  that  was  done,  the  work 
was  closed  with  a  few  words  of  exhortation,  prayer  and 
praise,  the  precentor  having  so  much  daylight  as  to  let  him 
see  to  read  four  lines  of  a  psalm.  The  tables  were  all  serv- 
ed in  the  open  air,  beside  the  tent  below  the  brae-  The  day- 
was  temperate  ;  no  wind  or  rain  in  the  least  to  disturb. 
Several  persons  of  considerable  rank  and  distinction,  who 
were  elders,  most  cheerfully  assisted  our  elders  in  serving  the 
tables. 

"  But  what  was  most  remarkable  was,  the  spiritual  glory 
of  this  solemnity  ;  I  mean,  the  gracious  and  sensible  pres- 
ence of  God.  Not  a  few  were  awakened  to  a  sense  of  sin, 
and  their  lost  and  perishing  condition  without  a  Saviour. 
Others  had  their  bands  loosed,  and  were  brought  into  the 
marvellous  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  Many  of  God's 
dear  children  have  declared,  that  it  was  a  happy  time  to 
their  souls,  wherein  they  were  abundantly  satisfied  with  the 
goodness  of  God  in  his  ordinances,  and  filled  with  all  joy  and 
peace  in  believing." 

"  Besides  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow,"  Gillies  says,  "  it  is 
really  wonderful  to  think  how  many  places  in  the  west  of 
Scotland  he  [Whitefield]  visited  within  a  few  weeks,  preach- 
ing at  every  one  of  them.  And  when  he  retired  for  a  day  or 
two,  it  was  on  purpose  to  write  letters,  and  prepare  pieces 
for  the  press."  For  this  last  mentioned  employment,  his 
American  opposers  helped  to  create  the  necessity. 

Foulis,  the  celebrated  University  Printer  at  Glasgow,  had 
published  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  The  State  of  Religion  in 
New  England,  since  the  Reverend  George  Whitefield 's  arri- 


*  The  Presbyterians  of  Scotland,  and  many  in  America,  sit  around  a 
ble  to  receive  the  Lord's  Supper. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  283 

val  there :  in  a  Letter  from  a  Gentleman  in  New  England  to 
his  friend  in  Glasgow,  To  which  is  subjoined  an  Appendix, 
containing  Attestations  of  the  principal  Facts  in  a  Letter,  by 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Chauncy,  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  of 
Christ  in  Boston,  Mr.  John  Caldwell,  in  New  Londonder- 
ry, Mr.  John  Barnard,  Pastor  of  a  Church  in  Marblehead, 
Mr.  Turell,  Mr.  Jonathan  Parsons,  Minister  at  Lyme,  and 
Dr.  Benjamin  Colman,  Minister  in  Boston."  The  Letter 
was  merely  a  denial  that  any  good  had  been  done,  an  exag- 
gerated account  of  all  the  disorders  that  had  appeared  since 
Whitefield's  arrival,  and  some  stories  that  seem  to  be  abso- 
lute fictions.  Of  the  "Attestations"  in  the  appendix,  the 
last  three  were  garbled  extracts,  applied  as  their  authors 
never  intended,  and  all  of  them  fell  far  short  of  sustai-ning 
"the  principal  facts  in  the  letter."  The  author  "desired 
and  insisted  that  his  name  should  not  be  mentioned,"  profes- 
sing "apprehensions  of  the  fury  this  account  might  raise 
against  himself  among  some  of  the  high  pretenders  to  a  Chris- 
tian spirit"  in  New  England.  He  had  good  reason  to  fear 
the  ruin  of  his  reputation  for  veracity.  Foulis,  however, 
assures  us  that  he  was  a  layman,  and  Whitefield  inferred, 
from  his  commendation  of  the  Episcopalians  in  Boston,  who 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  revival,  that  he  was  one  of  them. 
The  letter  was  dated  "  May  24,  1742."  Whitefield's  an- 
swer is  dated  "  Cambuslang,  August  31,  1742."  Philip 
says,  "  He  proved  pretty  fully,  although  without  bringing 
home  the  fact  to  any  one,  that  the  pamphlet  was  altered  in 
Scotland,  to  suit  a  purpose.  And  there  are  dates  of  Scotch 
publications  in  it,  which  could  not  have  been  known  in  Bos- 
ton when  it  was  written."  The  affair  is  worth  examining, 
for  a  lesson  which  it  teaches.  Whitefield's  whole  argument 
reads  thus  :  — 

"  There  is  one  thing  in  the  letter  which  makes  me  shrewdly  sus- 
pect that  the  letter  itself  is  not  genuine  ;  at  least,  that  there  has  been 
some  additions  made  to  it  since  it  came  to  Scotland.  For  the  sup- 
posed writer  says,  '  In  the  preface  to  the  sermon  published  by  Mr. 
Edwards  of  Northampton,  which,  I  see,  is  reprinted  among  you.' 
Now,  how  this  gentleman,  May  24,  could  see  at  Boston,  that  Mr.  Ed- 
wards' sermon  was  reprinted  in  Scotland,  which  was  not  done  till  June 
following,  I  know  not.  If  it  be  said,  that  by  the  words  '  among  you ' 
he  means  in  Britain,  I  see  that  the  printed  advertisement  in  the  Lon- 
don Weekly  History,  of  the  publication  of  Mr.  Edwards'  sermon  in 
England,  is  dated  May  1,  and  says, '  This  day  is  published.'  I  my- 
self was  one  that  was  chiefly  concerned  in  publishing  of  it.     I  sent 


284  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

the  first  copy  to  Scotland,  and,  to  my  certain  knowledge,  it  was  never 
published  in  Britain  till  May  1.  Is  it  probable  that  people  at  Boston 
should  know  this.  May  24  ?  " 

This  looks  like  a  strong  case  ;  but  the  proof  is  insuffi- 
cient. Foulis  shows,  in  his  second  edition,  that  the  London 
Weekly  History  of  April  10  contained  an  advertisement  of 
the  Sermon  as  "in  the  press,"  and  as  "earnestly  recom- 
mended by  Mr.  Whitefield  ;"  and  that  even  in  March,  a 
bookseller  at  Glasgow  had  been  requested  to  procure  some 
of  them  from  London  when  printed.  From  these  facts  Fou- 
lis argues,  that  Whitefield  must  have  known  that  the  inten- 
tion of  reprinting  the  sermon  had  been  known  in  Britain, 
long  enough  to  reach  Boston  before  the  date  of  the  letter  ; 
and  on  this  he  grounds  a  charge  against  Whitefield  of  "  Je- 
suitical dissimulation,"  in  bringing  forward  an  implied  charge 
of  forgery,  which  he  must  have  known  to  be  false.  That 
there  was  time  for  the  news  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  is  certain. 
His  Majesty's  ship  Dover  arrived  at  Boston  May  17,  1742, 
in  five  weeks  from  Plymouth.*  She  must  have  sailed, 
therefore,  April  12,  and  brought  London  dates  as  late  as 
April  1 1,  the  day  after  the  date,  and  probably  two  days  after 
the  printing,  of  the  advertisement.  There  was  also,  before 
the  27th,  and  probably  before  the  24th,  another  arrival  in 
five  weeks.*  The  disgrace  of  forgery,  therefore,  cannot  be 
fixed  upon  the  editor  of  the  pamphlet.  Nor  ought  any  one 
to  desire  it.  The  disgrace  of  publishing  it  is  enough. 
Neither  was  Whitefield  guilty  of  "Jesuitical  dissimulation," 
but  only  of  inconsiderate  haste  in  charging  a  scandalous 
crime  upon  his  opponents.  He  did  not  stop  to  think,  as  he 
ought  to  have  done,  that  a  person  writing  on  the  24th  of 
May,  would  very  naturally  say  of  a  sermon  which  he  knew 
to  have  been  "in  the  press"  five  weeks  before,  "which, 
I  see,  is  reprinted  among  you."  He  understood  it  strictly, 
as  an  assertion,  that  the  writer  had  seen  some  notice  of  its 
actual  appearance  in  the  market  ;  and  this,  he  knew,  was  high- 
ly improbable.  Many  of  the  irritating  charges  of  that  day, 
on  both  sides,  arose  from  a  similar  want  of  deliberate  inves- 
tigation, and  not  from  any  design  to  misrepresent.  In  the 
midst  of  such  high  and  general  excitement,  it  could  hardly 
be  otherwise.     Excited  men  cannot  wait  for  the  slow  move- 

»  Boston  News  Letter,  May  20  and  May  27,  1742,  Lib.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  285 

ments  of  patient  investigation.  They  assert,  with  undoubt- 
ing  confidence,  what  they  beheve  to  be  true,  but  what  the 
other  party  confidently  believes  to  be  false  ;  and  thus  they 
destroy  their  own  reputation  as  honest  men.  The  contro- 
versy concerning  this  pamphlet  doubtless  confirmed  each  par- 
ty in  the  belief,  that  the  other  was  deliberately  dishonest. 
'J'his  must  be  remembered,  if  we  would  do  justice,  either  to 
Whitefield,  to  his  friends,  or  to  his  opponents. 

There  were  many  other  publications,  for  and  against 
Whitefield  and  the  revival.  The  Arminianizing  clergy  of 
the  national  church  were  all  against  him  ;  as  were  also  some 
of  the  most  thorough  Calvinists.  Among  the  latter,  John 
Bisset,  Ogilvie's  colleague  at  Aberdeen,  who  preached 
against  Whitefield  on  his  first  visit,  published,  October  26,  a 
letter  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  pages,  "On  Communion 
with  a  Priest  of  the  Church  of  England."  He  heartily  be- 
labors all  parties  ;  the  Seceders,  for  first  inviting  Whitefield 
to  Scotland,  and  then  disguising  the  fact,  instead  of  frankly 
confessing  the  sin,  in  their  "  Act  anent  a  Fast;"  a  part  of 
the  clergy  of  the  church,  for  using  Whitefield  to  breakdown 
the  Seceders  ;  and  all  parties  in  that  church,  for  not  testify- 
ing against  the  inroads  of  false  doctrine.  He  quotes  re- 
spectfully a  passage  from  Adam  Gib's  pamphlet,  which,  he 
says,  he  has  preserved  from  the  flames,  to  which  Webster  of 
Edinburgh  had  sentenced  the  whole  edition. 

iMeanwhile,  Whitefield  had  returned  to  London,*  where, 
Gillies  says,  "  he  found  a  new  awakening  at  the  Tabernacle, 
which  had  been  much  enlarged."  But  the  revival  continued 
in  Scotland.  In  several  parishes,  awakenings  commenced 
in  July  and  August,  1742,  and  in  others  about  the  beginning 
of  1743.  March  30,  1744,  Mr.  Hamilton  wrote  from  Glas- 
gow to  Mr.  Prince  :  "  The  state  of  religion  in  our  country 
is  much  the  same  as  when  I  wrote  you  last.  The  strong  sen- 
sible awakenings  are  in  a  great  measure  ceased  ;  and  indeed 
it  could  not  be  expected  they  should  continue  long  ;  but  the 
effects  of  them,  with  great  numbers,  1  hope  will  never  cease. 
I'here  are  still  many  instances  of  persons  awakened  and  hope- 
fully converted  in  a  more  silent  way.  The  ordinances  con- 
tinue to  be  more  fiequented  than  formerly  ;  a  more  close  at- 
tention to  the  preaching  of  the  word,  and    a  greater  power 

*  He  was  at  Glnstrow,  October  20,  and  at  London,  November  6. 


286  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

accompanying  it ;  and  especially  sacrament  occasions  have 
of  late  been  remarkably  blessed  for  the  quickening  and  com- 
fort of  sincere  Christians.  Our  societies  for  prayer  and  con- 
ference are  likewise  in  a  flourishing  condition  in  many  parts." 

Yet  even  then  intelligence  had  just  been  received,  of 
awakenings  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  where  the  revival 
seems  to  have  been  attended  with  fewer  objectionable  cir- 
cumstances than  at  Cambuslang  and  Kilsyth.  There  was  a 
revival,  too,  in  the  remote  Highlands.  It  was  in  the  parish 
of  Lockbroom,  the  largest  in  Scotland,  being  more  than  one 
hundred  miles  in  circumference.  It  had  no  pastor ;  but 
Hugh  Cameron,  the  pious  schoolmaster,  travelled  from  place 
to  place,  gave  personal  instruction,  formed  societies  for  con- 
ference and  prayer,  and  was  the  means  of  enlightening  many 
souls. 

The  benefit  of  this  revival  extended  even  to  Holland. 
Accounts  of  the  awakenings  at  Cambuslang  and  Kilsyth 
were  translated  into  the  Dutch  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kennedy, 
of  the  Scots  Congregation  at  Rotterdam.  Some  of  the 
clergy  recommended  the  work  from  their  pulpits.  Several 
editions  were  sold,  and  it  was  made  "  a  means  of  quickening, 
enlightening  and  consolation  to  many." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Revival  in  New  England.  —  Conventions  and  Testimonies. 

The  General  Convention  of  Congregational  Ministers  in 
Massachusetts  obtained  its  form  and  official  character  gradu- 
ally. It  grew  out  of  the  custom  of  visiting  Boston  on  the 
day  of  the  opening  of  the  colonial  legislature.  As  many 
pastors  were  then  in  Boston,  it  became  a  custom  for  them  to 
meet  together,  to  converse  on  matters  of  general  interest, 
hear  a  sermon  from  some  one  of  their  number  previously  ap- 
pointed, and  take  up  a  collection  for  some  pious  object, 
commonly  the  support  of  missions  among  the  heathen. 
Sometimes,  if  not  always,  they  had  a  moderator  and  a  clerk, 
but  kept  no  record  of  their  proceedings.*     The  declaration 

*  The  vote  directing  (he  purchase  of  a  book  for  records,  was  passed  in 
174d.     It  is  still  preserved,  on  a  loose  piece  of  paper,  as  originally  written. 


THE   GREAT  AWAKENING.  287 

of  its  opinions,  however,  especially  when  unanimous,  or 
nearly  so,  could  not  fail  to  exert  a  powerful  influence  ;  and 
it  was  determined  to  bring  that  influence  to  bear  against  the 
revival.  The  result  of  the  effort  was  published  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  : 

"The  Testimony  of  the  Pastors  of  the  Churches  in  the  Province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England,  at  their  Annual  Convention 
in  Boston,  May  25,  1743,  against  several  Errors  in  Doctrine  and 
Disorders  in  Practice,  wliich  have  of  late  obtained  in  various  Parts 
of  the  Land;  as  drawn  up  by  a  Committee  chosen  by  the  said  Pas- 
tors, read  and  accepted,  paragraph  by  paragraph,  and  voted  to  be 
signed  by  the  Moderator  in  their  name,  and  printed. 

"  We,  the  pastors  of  the  churches  of  Christ  in  the  province  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay,  in  New  England,  at  our  Annual  Convention,  May  25, 
1743,  taking  into  consideration  several  errors  in  doctrine  and  disorders 
in  practice  that  have  of  late  obtained  in  various  parts  of  the  land,  look 
upon  ourselves  bound,  in  duty  to  our  great  Lord  and  Master,  Jesus 
Christ,  and  in  concern  for  the  purity  and  welfare  of  these  churches,  in 
the  most  public  manner  to  bear  our  testimony  against  them. 

"  I.  As  to  errors  in  doctrine  ;  we  observe  that  some  in  our  land  look 
upon  what  are  called  secret  impulses  upon  their  minds,  without  due 
regard  to  the  written  word,  the  rule  of  their  conduct;  that  none  are 
converted  but  such  as  know  they  are  converted,  and  the  time  when ; 
that  assurance  is  of  the  essence  of  saving  faith  ;  that  sanctification  is 
no  evidence  of  justification ;  with  other  Antinomian  and  Familistical 
errors  which  flow  from  these ;  all  which,  as  we  judge,  are  contrary  to 
the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and  testified  against  and  confuted 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Synod  of  August,  J637  ;  as  printed  in  a  book  enti- 
tled 'The  Rise,  and  Reign,  and  Ruin,  of  Antinomianism,  &c.,  in  New 
England.' 

"  n.   As  to  disorders  in  practice,  we  judge, 

"1.  The  itinerancy,  as  it  is  called,  by  which  either  ordained  minis- 
ters or  young  candidates  go  from  place  to  place,  and  without  the 
knowledge,  or  contrary  to  the  leave  of  the  stated  pastors  in  such  pla- 
ces, assemble  their  people  to  hear  themselves  preach,  —  arising,  we 
fear,  from  too  great  an  opinion  of  themselves,  and  an  uncharitable 
opinion  of  those  pastors,  and  a  want  of  faith  in  the  great  Head  of  the 
churches,  is  a  breach  of  order,  and  contrary  to  the  Scriptures,  1  Pet. 
4 :  15  ;  2  Cor.  10  :  12,  to  the  end,  and  the  sentiments  of  our  fathers 
expressed  in  their  Platform  of  Church  Discipline,  chap.  9,  sect.  6. 

"2.  Private  persons  of  no  education  and  but  low  attainments  in 
knowledge  and  in  the  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  without  any  reg- 
ular call,  under  a  pretence  of  exhorting,  taking  upon  themselves  to  be 
preachers  of  the  word  of  God,  we  judge  to  be  a  heinous  invasion  of 
the  ministerial  office,  offensive  to  God,  and  destructive  to  these  church- 
es ;  contrary  to  Scripture,  Numb.  16:  1  Cor.  28,  29,  and  testified 
again.st  in  a  '  Faithful  Advice  to  the  Churches  of  New  England '  by 
several  of  our  venerable  fathers. 

"3.  The  ordaining  or  separating  of  any  persons  to  the  work  of  the 
evangelical  ministry  at  large,  and  without  any  relation  to  a  particular 


288  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

charge,  which  some  of  late  have  unhappily  gone  into,  we  look  upon 
as  contrary  to  the  Scriptures,  and  directly  opposite  to  our  Platform, 
chap.  6  sect.  3,  and  the  practice  of  the  Protestant  churches;  as  may 
be  seen  in  'The  order  of  the  Churches  Vindicated,'  by  the  very  Rev- 
erend Dr.  Increase  Mather. 

"  4.  The  spirit  and  practice  of  separation  from  the  particular  flocks 
to  which  persons  belong,  to  join  thaoiselves  with,  and  support  lay  ex- 
horters  or  itinerants,  is  very  subversive  of  the  churches  of  Christ,  op- 
posite to  the  rule  of  the  gospel.  Gal.  5:  19,  20;  Jude  19;  1  Cor.  12: 
25;  1  Cor.  3  :  3,  and  utterly  condemned  by  our  Platform,  chap.  13,  sect. 
1,  5,  and  contrary  to  their  covenant  engagements. 

"5.  Persons  assuming  to  themselves  the  prerogatives  of  God,  to 
look  into  and  judge  the  hearts  of  tiieir  neighbours,  censure  and  condemn 
their  brethren,  especially  their  ministers,  as  Pharisees,  Arminians, 
blind  and  unconverted,  &c.,  when  their  doctrines  are  agreeable  to  the 
gospel  and  their  lives  to  their  Christian  profession,  is,  we  think,  most 
contrary  to  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  the  gospel  and  the  example  of 
Christ,  and  highly  unbecoming  the  character  of  those  who  call  them- 
selves the  disciples  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus.  John  J3:  34,  35 ;  1 
Sam.  IG:  7;  Mat.  7 :  1;  Rom.  14:  10. 

"  6.  Though  we  deny  not  that  the  human  mind,  under  the  operations 
of  the  Divine  Spirit,  may  be  overborne  with  terrors  and  joys;  yet  the 
many  confusions  that  have  appeared  in  some  places,  from  the  vanity 
of  mind  and  ungoverned  passions  of  people,  either  in  the  excess  of 
sorrow  or  joy,  with  the  disorderly  tumults  and  indecent  behaviour  of 
persons,  we  judge  to  be  so  far  from  an  indication  of  the  special  pres- 
ence of  God  with  those  preachers  that  have  industriously  excited  and 
countenanced  them,  or  in  the  assemblies  where  they  prevail,  that  they 
are  a  plain  evidence  of  the  weakness  of  human  nature  ;  as  the  history 
of  the  enthusiasms  that  have  appeared  in  the  world,  in  several  ages, 
manifests.  Also,  1  Cor.  14:  23,40.  At  the  same  time  we  bear  our 
testimony  against  the  impious  spirit  of  those  that  from  hence  take 
occasion  to  reproach  the  work  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  the 
children  of  God. 

"  Upon  the  whole,  we  earnestly  recommend  the  churches  of  this 
country  to  the  gracious  care  and  conduct  of  the  great  Shepherd  of  the 
sheep,  with  our  thankful  acknowledgments  for  his  merciful  regard  to 
them  in  supplying  them  with  faithful  pastors,  and  protecting  them 
from  the  designs  of  their  enemies,  and  advancing  his  spiritual  king- 
dom in  the  souls  of  so  many,  from  the  foundation  of  this  country  to 
tliis  day ;  and  where  there  is  any  special  revival  of  pure  religion  in 
any  parts  of  our  land  at  this  time,  we  would  give  unto  God  all  the 
glory.  And  we  earnestly  advise  all  our  brethren  in  the  ministry  care- 
fully to  endeavour  to  preserve  their  churches  pure  in  their  doctrine, 
discipline  and  manners,  and  guard  them  against  the  intrusion  of  itiner- 
ants and  exhorters,  to  uphold  a  spirit  of  love  towards  one  another,  and 
all  men  ;  which,  together  with  their  fervent  prayers,  will  be  the  most 
likely  means,  under  God,  to  promote  the  true  religion  of  the  holy  Je- 
sus, and  hand  it,  uncorrupt,  to  succeeding  generations. 

"Signed,  Nathaniel  Eells,  Moderator, 

in  the  name  and  by  order  of  the  Convention." 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  289 

This  was  forthwith  published,  without  note  or  comment, 
and  was  copied  by  Dr.  Chauncy  into  his  work  on  the  "  State 
of  Religion  in  New  England,"  and  has  been  published  else- 
where, in  the  same  style.  Happily,  something  may  be 
known  of  its  secret  history,  though  not  so  much  as  seems 
desirable. 

The  Rev.  Joshua  Gee,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in 
Boston,  is  represented  by  Dr.  Chauncy  as  a  man  of  more 
genius  than  any  other  of  the  Boston  ministers,  and  one  who 
might  have  been  a  great  man,  but  for  his  indolence  and  love 
of  talking.  A  newspaper  satirist  of  the  day,  describes  him 
as  one, who  never  loved  to  do  any  thing  himself,  but  was  ex- 
cellent at  setting  others  at  work.  His  name  scarcely  appears 
in  the  history  of  the  revival,  till  this  movement  in  the  Con- 
vention. This  seems  to  have  fairly  roused  him,  and  he  talk- 
ed and  set  others  to  work  to  some  purpose.  He  addressed 
a  printed  letter,  dated  June  3,  to  Mr.  Eells,  moderator  of 
the  Convention,  which  called  forth  replies  from  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Prescott  of  Salem,  and  Rev.  John  Hancock  of 
Braintree.  These  letters  furnish  what  information  we  have, 
concerning  the  adoption  of  this  Testimony.* 

The  Convention  met,  May  25.  What  preliminary  consul- 
tations had  been  held,  does  not  appear.  Hancock  says,  that 
he  had  "  reason  to  think  that  multitudes  in  those  places  that 
had  been  rent  with  them,  [disorders,]  as  well  as  others,  had 
great  expectations  of  receiving  such  a  faithful  Testimony  " 
from  the  Convention.  Gee  intimates  his  suspicion,  that  it 
was  intended  to  carry  out  the  designs  of  a  party.  Prescott 
states,  that  "  upon  the  motion  of  some  members  of  the  Con- 
vention, that  they  would  take  into  consideration,  and  give 
their  advice  upon  some  melancholy  accounts  then  given, 
which  related  to  the  state  of  religion  in  the  land,  and  specially 
in  some  particular  parts  of  it,"  it  was  proposed,  and  voted 
without  opposition,  to  appoint  a  committee,  to  report  the 
next  morning,  immediately  after  the  Convention  sermon, 
which  was  to  be  at  nine  o'clock.  After  the  sermon,  the 
convention  retired  to  Dr.  Sewall's,  who  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee, but  had  not  met  with  them.  He  had  but  just  time 
to  glance  at  the  report,  before  it  was  presented.     Gee  says, 

*  All  these  letters  are  preserved  in  the  Athenseum  Library,  and  those  of 
Hancock  and  Prescott  in  ihat  of  the  Old  South  Church. 
25 


290  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

that  when  the  report  was  presented,  Dr.  Sewall  "  declared 
his  judgment  that  it  ought  to  have  contained  an  attestation  to 
a  revival  of  religion  in  many  parts  of  the  land,  by  such  a 
work  as  an  assembly  of  pastors  at  their  annual  convention 
should  publicly  acknowledge  to  his  praise,  and  that  this 
ought  to  have  preceded  the  testimony  against  errors  and  dis- 
orders ;"  and  that  it  ought  to  testify  against  Arminianism,  as 
well  as  Antinomianism.  A  jdebate  arose,  and  finally  three 
were  added  to  the  committee,  and  the  report  was  recommit- 
ted. The  committee  met  at  Dr.  Sewall's,  after  dinner. 
Prescott,  who  was  one  of  them,  says,  that  in  relation  to  Ar- 
minianism, it  was  observed,  that  in  the  statements  which  had 
led  to  the  appointment  of  the  committee,  nothing  was  said  of 
its  prevalence,  or  of  disorders  arising  from  it,  and  as  they 
could  not  be  expected  to  testify  against  all  errors,  there  was 
no  reason  for  testifying  against  that  in  particular ;  so  the 
matter  was  dropped,  except  that  the  word  "  Arminians  "  was 
added  after  the  word  "  Pharisees"  in  the  fifth  article.  The 
last  sentence  of  the  sixth  article  was  added,  and  the  words, 
"and  where  there  is  special  revival  of  pure  religion  in  any 
parts  of  our  land,  we  would  give  unto  God  all  the  glory," 
were  inserted  in  the  concluding  paragraph. 

When  the  report,  thus  amended,  was  brought  in,  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  adopt  it  entire,  by  a  single  vote  ;  but  the 
Convention  decided  first  to  consider  the  articles  separately. 
The  first  five  articles  passed  with  little  or  no  opposition  ; 
some,  however,  refusing  to  vote,  because  the  Testimony  did 
not  contain  an  open  acknowledgment  of  the  revival.  On  the 
sixth  article,  a  very  earnest  debate  arose.  During  this  de- 
bate. Gee  attempted  to  speak.  Dr.  Chauncy  objected,  that 
eight  years  before,  Gee  had,  by  a  written  instrument,  with- 
drawn from  the  Convention,  and  urged  that  he  should  now 
be  asked  whether  he  spake  as  a  member.  Gee  refused  to 
answer,  and  was  not  permitted  to  speak.  Several  urged  the 
duty  of  testifying  fully  that  there  had  been  a  glorious  work 
of  divine  grace  in  the  land.  It  was  replied,  that  as  the  revi- 
val had  not  appeared  in  all  places,  many  pastors,  who  had 
not  seen  it,  could  not  join  in  testifying  its  reality.  But,  it 
was  said,  neither  had  errors  and  disorders  appeared  in  all 
places,  and  the  Convention  might  as  well  rely  on  information 
concerning  one,  as  concerning  the  other.  Webb,  of  Boston, 
then  gave  an  account  of  the  revival  among  his  people,  and 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  291 

Others  were  ready  to  follow  him.  Gee  says,  "they  were 
interrupted  in  a  rude  manner,  and  treated  with  open  con- 
tempt ;"  that  "  many  earnest  pleas  for  their  being  heard  were 

stifled  in  clamor  and  opposition  ;  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  W s 

of  W n,*   who    was   one    of  the    committee,    testified 

against  the  bad  spirit  of  the  assembly,  and  the  ill-treatment 
given  to  pastors  who  desired  to  speak  ;  and  that  he  declared 
openly,  that  "he  had  seen  much  of  the  gracious  work  of 
God,  in  a  late  revival  of  religion  among  his  people,  and  this, 
without  any  appearance  of  the  errors  and  disorders  mentioned 
in  the  Testimony  ;"  that  others  wished  to  speak,  "  but  saw  it 
was  in  vain  to  desire  and  wait  for  a  patient  hearing."  Han- 
cock admits,  that  there  was  too  much  warmth  on  both  sides  ; 
but  says  those  who  wished  to  speak,  "  to  the  best  of  my  re- 
membrance, were  generally  treated  with  respect  and  decen- 
cy." Prescott  gives  a  sketch  of  this  part  of  the  debate.  It 
was  said,  against  hearing  any  more  statements,  that  the  Con- 
vention did  not  need  to  hear  them,  "  there  having  been  abun- 
dant publication,  already,  of  these  things."  When  it  was 
urged  that  these  accounts  should  be  believed,  as  well  as  ac- 
counts of  errors  and  disorders,  the  reply  was,  that  equal 
credit  was  given  to  the  facts,  in  both  cases  ;  but  in  one  case, 
the  facts  were  such  as  evidently  amounted  to  errors  and  dis- 
orders, but  in  the  other,  they  were  not  such  that  the  hearer 
could  testify  that  there  had  been  a  revival  of  religion.  It 
was  then  urged,  that,  if  the  acknowledgment  of  the  revival 
were  omitted,  the  Convention  would  not  give  that  glory  to 
God  which  was  his  due.  The  reply  was,  that  "  God  would 
certainly  have  the  glory  of  his  grace  in  every  instance  where- 
in it  was  displayed  ;"  that  every  convert  would  praise  him 
for  his  own  conversion,  and  that  every  church  where  there 
was  a  revival,  —  Mr.  Webb's,  for  instance,  —  would  thank 
him  for  that  revival,  so  that  the  whole  would  be  acknowledg- 
ed ;  but  the  praises  of  those  who  were  not  personally  ac- 
quainted with  the  facts,  it  was  argued,  could  serve  no  impor- 
tant purpose.  But  the  great  argument  was,  that  "  if  the 
Convention  should  give  so  full  and  enlarged  a  testimony  for 
a  glorious  work  of  divine  grace,"  the  disorderly  and  errone- 
ous "would  be  led  to  apply  it  to  themselves,  and  take  it  for 
granted,  that,  however  they  might  be  chargeable  with  some 

*  Probably,  Williams  of  Weston. 


292  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

errors  and  disorders,  yet,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Convention, 
they  had  experienced  that  which  was  an  evidence  of  a  re- 
markable divine  influence,"  and  therefore  would  "  but  little 
regard  our  testifying  against  errors  and  disorders."  That  is, 
the  Convention  did  not  dare  to  tell  the  whole  truth  and  risk 
the  consequences,  lest  it  should  defeat  the  good  object  they 
had  in  view. 

At  length,  the  question  on  the  adoption  of  the  whole  pa- 
per, was  put  and  carried.  The  vote  was  disputed,  and  a 
count  was  ordered.  The  moderator  counted  thirty-eight 
votes  in  the  affirmative,  which  he  pronounced  to  be  a  majori- 
ty ;  and  that  number  was  entered  on  the  minutes  by  Mr. 
Prince,  the  scribe.  Gee  suggests  a  doubt  whether  there 
would  have  been  a  majority,  without  the  votes  of  ministers 
from  other  colonies.  Hancock  and  Prescott  think  there 
were  more  than  thirty-eight  affirmative  votes,  and  that  the 
moderator  counted  only  that  number,  because  no  more  v.'ere 
necessary  to  decide  the  question.  The  mode  of  subscrip- 
tion was  then  to  be  decided.  Gee  writes  to  Eells,  "  I  am 
sensible  you  plainly  told  the  assembly,  you  could  not  sub- 
scribe it  for  yourself  personally,  upon  which  there  was  a  vote 
for  your  signing  it  as  moderator."  On  this,  Prescott  says 
nothing.  Hancock  wrote  to  Eells,  to  know  if  it  was  true, 
and  whether  he  would  testify  that  there  were  only  thirty-eight 
affirmative  votes  ;  but  he  received  no  answer.  Eells  was  a 
cautious  man.  Hancock  says,  he  was  "the  most  famous  of 
any  in  these  parts,  for  a  steady  opposer  of  the  very  errors 
and  disorders  mentioned  in  the  Testimony." 

Gee  regretted  that  the  proposal  for  a  personal  subscription 
did  not  prevail ;  for  then  it  would  have  appeared  that  the 
Testimony  was  voted  by  less  than  one  fifth  of  the  ministers  of 
Massachusetts.  He  thought  the  Testimony,  as  it  was,  "  pow- 
erfully tended  to  unhappy  effects,  both  among  those  who  live 
at  a  great  distance  from  us,  and  among  our  own  churches," 
and  that  nothing  "could  be  better  calculated  and  contrived 
to  confirm  the  fallacious  accounts  of  the  '  State  of  Religion  in 
New  England,'  which  had  lately  been  sent  over  to  Scotland 
by  some  virulent  opposers  "  of  the  revival. 

This  same  Convention  furnished  another  important  "  Tes- 
timony." It  was  contained  in  the  election  sermon,  by  the 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Appleton,  pastor  of  the  first  church  in  Cam- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  293 

bridge  ;  a  man  famous  for  his  extreme  care,  if  any  care  can 
be  extreme,  always  to  speak  the  exact  truth.     He  said  :  — 

"I  cannot  but  think  there  are  many  things  at  this  day  that  have  a 
plausible  appearance  at  first  view,  and  yet  are  of  a  dangerous  tenden- 
cy; which  I  think,  ministers,  if  they  would  be  a  light  to  their  people, 
should  instruct  and  warn  them  about,  with  the  meekness  and  gentle- 
ness of  Christ. 

"As,  particularly,  ministers  leaving  their  own  particular  charges, 
and  going  from  place  to  place,  without  any  regular  call  or  desire,  in- 
truding themselves  into  other  men's  parishes ;  whereby  they  are  in 
danger  of  exciting  and  gratifying  their  own  pride,  stirring  up  itching 
ears  in  the  people,  and  leading  them  away  from  love  and  esteem  of 
their  own  faithful  ministers. 

"  So,  again,  ministers  setting  up  to  preach  without  premeditation 
and  study,  looks  plausible  to  the  weak  and  ignorant,  but  is  of  danger- 
ous tendency. 

"Again,  encouraging  illiterate  persons  publicly  to  exhort,  which,  by 
speaking  freely  and  boldly  upon  some  points,  lead  the  people  to  think 
they  have  more  of  the  Spirit  of  God  than  their  ministers;  by  which 
means  such  novices  are  in  danger  of  being  lifted  up  with  pride  them- 
selves ;  and  the  end  of  it  with  respect  to  the  people,  if  it  should  go 
on,  would  be  ignorance  and  error ;  for  many  of  the  gross  errors  and 
corruptions  of  the  church  of  Rome  have  come  in  at  the  door  of  igno- 
rance. 

"  Again,  pretending  to  immediate  impulses  of  the  Spirit,  and  taking 
them  for  their  guide,  rather  than  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  pretending  by 
such  impulses  to  explain  the  Holy  Scriptures.  So  all  disparaging 
speeches  about  the  Scriptures,  as  if  they  were  useless  to  the  uncon- 
verted, and  as  if  the  converted  had  the  Spirit  in  such  a  degree  as  in 
any  measure  to  supersede  the  use  of  the  word  ;  pretending,  also,  that 
none  but  the  saints  have  any  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  and  as 
if  they  could  understand  all  Scriptures  without  any  help  of  human 
study  and  learning.  Those  are  very  dangerous  things,  that  must  be 
pointed  out,  and  the  people  enlightened  in,  that  are  in  danger  of  being 
carried  away  with  them. 

"  Again,  false  notions  about  faith,  as  if  assurance  was  of  the  es- 
sence of  saving,  justifying  faith.  Or  the  refining  faith  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  separate  it  from  good  works,  and  pleading  for  such  a  faith  as 
the  apostle  says  is  dead.  So  the  speaking  too  slightly  of  good  works, 
and  leading  people  into  an  apprehension  of  the  Heedlessness  of  them, 
and  making  them  careless  about  them,  are  dangerous  points. 

"Again,  leading  people  to  think  it  is  of  necessity  for  them  to  know 
the  particular  time  of  their  conversion. 

"  So,  again,  their  uncharitableness  towards  others  ;  a  freedom  in 
judging  men's  state,  even  though  they  are  regular  and  blameless  in 
their  lives ;  and  a  pretendmg  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  judge  whether  men 
are  in  a  state  of  grace  or  not ;  and  a  denying,  at  the  same  time,  that 
sanctificalion  is  any  evidence  of  justification. 

"Now  these  and  such  like  are  stumbling-blocks  ;  yea,  some  of  them 
dangerous  rocks,  that  ministers  must  be  as  a  light  unto  their  people 

25* 


294  THE  GREAT  AWAKENliNG. 

about,  and  must  hold  the  light  of  God's  word  to  them,  that  they  may 
Bee  and  avoid  them. 

"  But  then  there  are  stumbling-blocks  on  the  other  hand,  yea,  most 
dangerous  rocks,  which  ministers,  if  they  would  be  as  lights  unto  the 
world,  must  point  out,  and  warn  seasonably  and  earnestly  against. 

"Thus,  the  denial  of  there  having  been  a  glorious  work  of  God  in 
the  land  of  late  ;  and  the  speaking  disparagingly  of  those  convictions, 
and  all  that  serious  concern  that  has  been  stirred  up  in  multitudes,  as 
if  there  was  nothing  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  any  of  them  ;  and  as  if 
all  the  religious  commotions  had  been  the  work  of  the  devil,  or  had 
been  wrought  in  a  mere  mechanical  way  ;  and  the  ridiculing  and  re- 
proaching such  persons  in  general  and  without  distinction,  and  dis- 
couraging rather  than  encouraging  any  concernedness  of  soul,  and  so 
the  lulling  men  asleep  in  their  carnal  security  again,  that  began  to  be 
roused  up,  and  the  settling  them  in  their  natural,  unconverted  state  ; 
these,  I  say,  are  dangerous  things,  and  ministers  must  hold  up  tlie 
light  of  God's  word,  and  show  people  the  danger  hereof." 

It  was  from  hearing  this  sermon,  of  which  they  requested 
a  copy  for  the  press,  that  the  Convention  went  to  Dr.  Sew- 
all's,  and  engaged  in  the  debates  which  have  just  been  de- 
scribed. 

The  next  day,  Friday,  May  27,  some  friends  of  the  revival 
met,  and  agreed'  to  hold  another  Convention.  Accordingly,  the 
following  notice  appeared  in  the  Boston  Gazette  of  May  31  : 

"  It  is  desired  and  proposed  by  a  number  of  ministers,  both  in  town 
and  country,  that  such  of  their  brethren  as  are  persuaded  there  has 
of  late  been  a  happy  revival  of  religion,  through  an  extraordinary  di- 
vine influence,  in  many  parts  of  this  land,  and  are  concerned  for  the 
honor  and  progress  of  this  remarkable  work  of  God,  may  have  an  in- 
terview at  Boston,  the  day  after  the  approaching  commencement;  to 
consider  whether  they  are  not  called  to  give  an  open  conjunct  testi- 
mony to  an  event  so  surprising  and  gracious  ;  as  well  as  against  those 
errors  in  doctrine  and  disorders  in  practice,  which,  through  the  permit- 
ted agency  of  Satan,  have  attended  it,  and  in  any  measure  blemished 
its  glory  and  hindered  its  advancement :  and  also  to  consult  the  most 
likely  methods  to  be  taken,  to  guard  people  against  such  delusions 
and  mistakes  as  in  such  a  season  they  are  in  danger  of  falling  into, 
and  that  this  blessed  work  may  continue  and  flourish  among  us. 

"  But  if  any  gentlemen  who  heartily  concur  in  the  end  and  design  of 
this  proposal,  may  be  hindered  in  providence  from  giving  their  pres- 
ence at  this  designed  interview,  it  is  earnestly  desired  they  would 
send  their  attestations,  and  communicate  their  thoughts  seasonably 
in  writing  :  though  at  the  same  time  it  is  hoped,  none  will  sufl^er 
small  difficulties  to  prevent  their  attendance  on  an  affair  of  such  im- 
portance to  the  interest  of  Christ's  kingdom,  both  here  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  world.'' 

The  official  account  of  this  Convention  reads  as  follows:  — 

"  Agreeable  to  this  invitation,  a  considerable  number  of  ministers 
met  at  Boston  on  Thursday  July  7,  in  the  forenoon  :  when  the  Rev. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  295 

Mr.  White  of  Gloucester,  opened  the  assembly  with  prayer.  They 
had  some  discourse  ;  and  then  adjourned  (in  order  to  attend  the  pub- 
lic lecture)  to  half  an  hour  past  two  in  the  afternoon. 

"In  the  afternoon  they  met,  to  the  number  of  ninety,  chose  Dr. 
Colman  moderator,  Dr.  Sewall  assistant,  and  Mr.  Prince  and  Mr.  Hob- 
by, scribes.  But  Dr.  Colman  excusing  himself,  Dr.  Sewall  acted  as 
moderator. 

"  They  then  proceeded  to  read  letters  from  twenty-eight  who  were 
absent,  bearing  their  testimony  to  this  remarkable  work  of  God  in  the 
land.  And  after  further  inquiries,  declarations,  discourses  and  de- 
bates, a  little  after  eight  in  the  evening,  was  read,  proposed  and  put, 
without  any  objection,  the  following  vote,  viz. 

"  We,  pastors  of  churches  in  the  provinces  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  and  New  Hampshire  in  New  England,  met  at  Boston  this  seventh 
day  of  July,  1743,  being  persuaded  there  has  of  late  been  a  happy  re- 
vival of  religion,  through  a  remarkable  divine  influence,  in  many 
parts  of  this  land,  and  apprehending  it  our  duty  to  give  an  open  con- 
junct testimony,  to  the  glory  of  God,  to  an  event  so  surprising  and 
gracious,  as  well  as  against  those  errors  in  doctrine  and  disorders  in 
practice,  which,  through  human  frailties  and  corruptions  and  the  per- 
mitted agency  of  Satan,  have  attended  it,  and  in  any  measure  blem- 
ished its  glory  and  hindered  its  advancement;  came  to  the  following 
resolution  :  that  a  committee  be  chosen  to  consider  the  premises  and 
make  a  report  to-morrow  morning  at  nine  o'clock.  Voted  in  the  affir- 
mative, generally. 

"  And  chose  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sewall,  Mr.  Wigglesworth,  Prince,  Adams, 
Cooper,  Nathaniel  Rogers,  Leonard  and  Hobby,  to  be  said  Committee. 

"The  Rev.  Mr.  Moody  prayed;  and  they  adjourned  to  meet  to- 
morrow morning  at  nine  o'clock. 

^'Friday  morning,  about  ten,  they  met  again,  to  the  number  of  about 
seventy.  Dr.  Sewall  prayed,  and  then  presented  the  Committee's  re- 
port. First  we  read  the  whole  throughout;  then  began  again, and  read 
the  introduction  ;  then  read  and  severally  considered  the  following 
paragraphs  ;  and  after  divers  amendments,  proceeded  to  subscribe. 

"  Voted,  That  Mr.  Prince,  Cooper  and  Gee  be  a  Committee  to  take 
care  of  publishing  the  subscribed  Testimony  and  Advice,  together  with 
suitable  extracts  from  the  letters  communicated  to  us. 

"Rev.  Mr.  Baxter  returned  thanks  and  prayed;  and  about  three  in 
the  afternoon,  we  dissolve. 

"  A  true  account,  according  to  the  minutes. 

"  Thomas  Prince,  Scribe. 

"The  Testimony  and  Advice  of  an  Assembly  of  Pastors  of  Church- 
es in  New  England,  at  a  meeting  in  Boston,  July  7,  1743,  occasion- 
ed by  the  late  happy  Revival  of  Religion  in  many  parts  of  the  Land. 
"If  it  is  the  duty  of  every  one  capable  of  observation  and  reflec- 
tion, to  take  a  constant  religious  notice  of  what  occurs  in  the  daily 
course   of  common  providence ;  how  much  more   is  it  expected  that 
those  events  in  the  divine  economy,  wherein  there  is  a  signal  display 
of  the  power,  grace  and  mercy  of  God  in  behalf  of  the  church,  should 
be  observed  with  sacred  wonder,  pleasure,  and  gratitude  !     Nor  should 
the  people  of  God  content  themselves  with  a  silent  notice,  but  publish 
with  the  voice  of  thanksgiving,  and  tell  of  all  his  wondrous  works. 


296  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  More  particularly,  when  Christ  is  pleased  to  come  into  his  church 
in  a  plentiful  effusion  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  by  whose  powerful  influen- 
ces the  ministration  of  the  word  is  attended  with  uncommon  success, 
salvation-work  carried  on  in  an  eminent  manner,  and  his  kingdom, 
which  is  within  men,  and  consists  in  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  notably  advanced,  this  is  an  event  which,  above 
all  others,  invites  the  notice  and  bespeaks  the  praises  of  the  Lord's 
people,  and  should  be  declared  abroad  for  a  memorial  of  the  divine 
grace  ;  as  it  tends  to  confirm  the  divinity  of  a  despised  gospel,  and 
manifests  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  application  of  redemp- 
tion, which  too  many  are  ready  to  reproach ;  as  it  may  have  a  happy 
effect,  by  the  divine  blessing,  for  the  revival  of  religion  in  other  pla- 
ces, and  the  enlargement  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  world  ;  and 
as  it  tends  to  enliven  the  prayers,  strengthen  the  faith,  and  raise  the 
hopes,  of  such  as  are  waiting  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the  coming 
on  of  the  glory  of  the  latter  days. 

"But  if  it  is  justly  expected  of  all  who  profess  themselves  the  disci- 
ples of  Christ,  that  they  should  openly  acknowledge  and  rejoice  in  a 
work  of  this  nature,  wherein  the  honor  of  their  divine  Master  is  so 
much  concerned ;  how  much  more  is  it  to  be  looked  for  from  those 
who  are  employed  in  the  ministry  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  so  stand  in  a 
special  relation  to  him,  as  servants  of  his  household,  and  officers  in 
his  kingdom!  These  stand  as  watchmen  upon  the  walls  of  Jerusa- 
lem ;  and  it  is  their  business  not  only  to  give  the  alarm  of  war  when 
the  enemy  is  approaching,  but  to  sound  the  trumpet  of  praise  when 
the  King  of  Zion  cometh,  in  a  meek  triumph,  having  salvation. 

"For  these  and  other  reasons,  we,  whose  names  are  hereunto  an- 
nexed, pastors  of  churches  in  New  England,  met  together  in  Boston, 
July  7,  1743,  think  it  our  indispensable  duty,  (without  judging  or  cen- 
suring such  of  our  brethren  as  cannot  at  present  see  things  in  the 
same  light  with  us,)  in  this  open  and  conjunct  manner  to  declare,  to 
the  glory  of  sovereign  grace,  our  full  persuasion,  either  from  what  we 
have  seen  ourselves,  or  received  upon  credible  testimony,  that  there 
has  been  a  happy  and  remarkable  revival  of  religion  in  many  parts  of 
this  land,  through  an  uncommon  divine  influence  ;  after  a  long  time 
of  great  decay  and  deadness,  and  a  sensible  and  very  awful  withdraw 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  his  sanctuary  among  us. 

"Though  the  work  of  grace  wrought  on  the  hearts  of  men  by  the 
word  and  Spirit  of  God,  and  which  has  been  more  or  less  carried  on 
in  the  church  from  the  beginning,  is  always  the  same  for  substance, 
and  agrees,  at  one  time  and  another,  in  one  place  or  person  and  anoth- 
er, as  to  the  main  strokes  and  lineaments  of  it,  yet  the  present  work 
appears  to  be  remarkable  and  extraordinary, 

"  On  account  of  the  numbers  tvrought  upon.  We  never  before  saw 
so  many  brought  under  soul  concern,  and  with  distress  making  the  in- 
quiry. What  must  we  do  to  be  saved?  And  these  persons  of  all 
characters  and  ages.  With  regard  to  the  suddenness  and  quick  pro- 
gress of  it.  Many  persons  and  places  were  surprised  with  the  gra- 
cious visit  together,  or  near  about  the  same  time ;  and  the  heavenly 
influence  diffused  itself  far  and  wide  like  the  light  of  the  morning. 
Also  in  respect  of  the  degree  of  operation,  botli  in  a  way  of  terror  and 
in  a  way  of  consolation  ;  attended  in  many  with  unusual  bodily  ef- 
fects. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  297 

"  Not  that  all  who  are  accounted  the  subjects  of  the  present  work, 
have  had  these  extraordinary  degrees  of  previous  distress  and  subse- 
quent joy.  But  many,  and  we  suppose  the  greater  number,  have  been 
wrought  on  in  a  more  gentle  and  silent  way,  and  without  any  other 
appearances  than  are  common  and  usual  at  other  times,  when  persons 
have  been  awakened  to  a  solemn  concern  about  salvation,  and  have 
been  thought  to  have  passed  out  of  a  state  of  nature  into  a  state  of 
grace. 

"  As  to  those  whose  inward  concern  has  occasioned  extraordinary 
outward  distresses,  the  most  of  them,  when  we  came  to  converse  with 
them,  were  able  to  give,  what  appeared  to  us,  a  rational  account  of 
what  so  affected  their  minds  ;  viz.,  a  quick  sense  of  their  guilt,  mis- 
ery, and  danger;  and  they  would  often  mention  the  passages  in  the 
sermons  they  heard,  or  particular  texts  of  Scripture,  which  were  set 
home  upon  thejn  with  such  a  powerful  impression.  And  as  to  such 
whose  joys  have  carried  them  into  transports  and  extasies,  they  in 
like  manner  have  accounted  for  them,  from  a  lively  sense  of  the  dan- 
ger they  hoped  they  were  freed  from,  and  the  happiness  they  were 
now  possessed  of;  such  clear  views  of  divine  and  heavenly  things, 
and  particularly  of  the  excellencies  and  loveliness  of  .Tesus  Christ, 
and  such  sweet  tastes  of  redeeming  love,  as  they  never  had  before. 
The  instances  were  very  few  in  which  we  had  reason  to  think  these 
affections  were  produced  by  visionary  or  sensible  representations,  or 
by  any  other  images  than  such  as  the  Scripture  itself  presents  unto  us. 

"  And  here  we  think  it  not  amiss  to  declare,  that  in  dealing  with 
these  persons,  we  have  been  careful  to  inform  them,  that  the  nature  of 
conversion  does  not  consist  in  these  passionate  feelings ;  and  to  warn 
them  not  to  look  upon  their  state  safe,  because  they  have  passed  out 
of  deep  distress  into  high  joys,  unless  they  experience  a  renovation 
of  nature,  followed  with  a  change  of  life,  and  a  course  of  vital  holi- 
ness. Nor  have  we  gone  into  such  an  opinion  of  the  bodily  effects 
with  which  this  work  has  been  attended  in  some  of  its  subjects,  as  to 
judge  them  any  signs  that  persons  who  have  been  so  affected,  were 
then  under  a  saving  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  No  ;  we  never  so 
much  as  called  these  bodily  seisures,  convictions;  or  spake  of  them 
as  the  immediate  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Yet  we  do  not  think  them 
inconsistent  with  a  work  of  God  upon  the  soul  at  that  very  time  ;  but 
judge  that  those  inward  impressions  which  come  from  the  Spirit  of 
God,  those  terrors  and  consolations  of  which  he  is  the  author,  may,  ac- 
cording to  the  natural  frame  and  constitution  which  some  persons  are 
of,  occasion  such  bodily  effects ;  and  therefore  that  those  extraordina- 
ry outward  symptoms  are  not  an  argument  that  the  work  is  delusive, 
or  from  the  influence  and  agency  of  tlie  evil  spirit. 

"  With  respect  to  numbers  of  those  who  have  been  under  the  im- 
pressions of  the  present  day,  we  must  declare  there  is  good  ground  to 
conclude  they  are  become  real  Christians  ;  the  account  they  give  of 
their  conviction  and  consolation  ngreeing  with  the  standard  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  corresponding  with  the  experiences  of  the  saints, 
and  evidenced  by  the  external  fruits  of  holiness  in  their  lives;  so  that 
thtL-y  appear  to  those  who  have  the  nearest  access  to  them,  as  so  many 
epistles  of  Christ,  written,  not  with  ink,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  the  living 
God,  attesting  to  the  genuineness  of  the  present  operation,  and  repre- 
senting the  excellency  of  it. 


298  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  Indeed,  many,  who  appeared  to  be  under  convictions,  and  were 
much  altered  in  their  external  behaviour  when  this  work  began,  and 
while  it  was  most  flourishing,  have  lost  their  impressions,  and  are  re- 
lapsed into  their  former  manner  of  life.  Yet  of  those  who  were 
judged  hopefully  converted,  and  made  a  public  profession  of  religion, 
there  have  been  fewer  instances  of  scandal  and  apostasy  than  might 
be  expected.  So  that,  as  far  as  we  are  able  to  form  a  judgment,  the 
face  of  religion  is  lately  changed  much  for  the  better  in  many  of  our 
towns  and  congregations;  and  together  with  a  reformation  observable 
in  divers  instances,  there  appears  to  be  more  experimental  godliness 
and  lively  Christianity,  than  the  most  of  us  can  remember  we  have 
ever  seen  before. 

"Thus  we  have  freely  declared  our  thoughts  as  to  the  work  of  God, 
so  remarkably  revived  in  many  parts  of  this  land.  And  now,  we  de- 
sire to  bow  the  knee  in  thanksgiving  to  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  our  eyes  have  seen  and  our  ears  heard  such 
things.  And  while  these  are  our  sentiments,  we  must  necessarily  be 
grieved  at  any  accounts  sent  abroad,  representing  this  work  as  all  en- 
thusiasm, delusion  and  disorder. 

"  Indeed,  it  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  in  some  places  many  irregular- 
ities and  extravagances  have  been  permitted  to  accompany  it,  which 
we  would  deeply  lament  and  bewail  before  God,  and  look  upon  our- 
selves obliged,  for  the  honor  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  of  his  blessed 
operations  on  the  souls  of  men,  to  bear  a  public  and  faithful  testimony 
against;  though  at  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  acknowledged  with  much 
thankfulness,  that  in  other  places,  where  the  work  has  greatly  flour- 
ished, there  have  been  few,  if  any,  of  these  disorders  and  excesses. 
But  who  can  wonder,  if  at  such  a  time  as  this,  Satan  should  intermin- 
gle himself,  to  hinder  and  blemish  a  work  so  directly  contrary  to  the 
interests  of  his  own  kingdom?  Or  if,  while  so  much  good  seed  is 
sowing,  the  enemy  should  be  busy  to  sow  tares  ?  We  would  there- 
fore, in  the  bowels  of  Jesus,  beseech  such  as  have  been  partakers  of 
this  work,  or  are  zealous  to  promote  it,  that  they  be  not  ignorant  of 
Satan's  devices  ;  that  they  watch  and  pray  against  errors  and  miscon- 
duct of  every  kind,  lest  they  blemish  and  hinder  that  which  they  de- 
sire to  honor  and  advance.     Particularly, 

"  That  they  do  not  make  secret  impulses  on  their  minds,  without  a 
due  regard  to  the  written  word,  the  rule  of  their  duty  :  a  very  dan- 
gerous mistake,  which,  we  apprehend,  some  in  these  times  have  gone 
into.  That  to  avoid  Arminianism,  they  do  not  verge  to  the  opposite 
side  of  Antinomianism;  while  we  would  have  others  take  good  heed 
to  themselves,  lest  they  be  by  some  led  into,  or  fixed  in,  Arminian 
tenets,  under  the  pretence  of  opposing  Antinomian  errors.  That  lay- 
men do  not  invade  the  ministerial  office,  and,  under  a  pretense  of 
exhorting,  set  up  preaching ;  which  is  very  contrary  to  gospel  order, 
and  tends  to  introduce  errors  and  confusion  into  the  church.  That 
ministers  do  not  invade  the  province  of  others,  and  in  ordinary  cases 
preach  in  another's  parish  without  his  knowledge,  and  against  his 
consent;  nor  encourage  raw  and  indiscreet  young  candidates,  in  rush- 
ing into  particular  places,  and  preaching  publicly  or  privately,  as 
some  have  done,  to  the  no  small  disrepute  and  damage  of  the  work  in 
places  where  it  once  promised  to  flourish.     Though  at  the  same  time 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  299 

we  would  have  ministers  show  their  regard  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
their  people,  by  suffering  them  to  partake  of  the  gifts  and  graces  of 
able,  sound  and  zealous  preachers  of  the  word,  as  God  in  his  provi- 
dence may  give  opportunity  therefor;  being  persuaded  God  has  in  this 
day  remarkably  blessed  the  labors  of  some  of  his  servants  who  have 
travelled  in  preaching  the  gospel  of  Christ.  That  people  beware  of 
entertaining  prejudices  against  their  own  pastors,  and  do  not  run  into 
unscriptural  separations.  That  they  do  not  indulge  a  disputatious 
spirit,  which  has  been  attended  with  mischievous  effects ;  nor  discov- 
er a  spirit  of  censoriousness,  uncharitableness,  and  rash  judging  the 
state  of  others ;  than  which  scarce  any  thing  has  more  blemished  the 
work  of  God  amongst  us.  And  while  we  would  meekly  exhort  both 
ministers  and  Christians,  so  far  as  is  consistent  with  truth  and  holi- 
ness, to  follow  the  things  that  make  for  peace ;  we  would  most  ear- 
nestly warn  all  sorts  of  persons  not  to  despise  these  outpourings  of 
the  Spirit,  lest  a  holy  God  be  provoked  to  withhold  them,  and  instead 
thereof,  to  pour  out  upon  this  people  the  vials  of  his  wrath,  in  temporal 
judgments  and  spiritual  plagues ;  and  would  call  upon  every  one  to 
improve  this  remarkable  season  of  grace,  and  put  in  for  a  share  of  the 
heavenly  blessings  so  liberally  dispensed. 

"Finally,  we  exhort  tlie  children  of  God  to  continue  instant  in 
prayer,  that  He  with  whom  is  the  residue  of  the  Spirit,  would  grant  us 
fresh,  more  plentiful  and  extensive  effusions,  that  so  this  wilderness, 
in  all  the  parts  of  it,  may  become  a  fruitful  field ;  that  the  present  ap- 
pearances may  be  an  earnest  of  the  glorious  things  promised  to  the 
church  in  the  latter  days  ;  when  she  shall  shine  with  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  arisen  upon  her,  so  as  to  dazzle  the  eyes  of  beholders,  confound 
and  put  to  shame  all  her  enemies,  rejoice  the  hearts  of  her  solicitous 
and  now  saddened  friends,  and  have  a  strong  influence  and  resplen- 
dency throughout  the  earth.  Amen  !  Even  so.  Come,  Lord  Jesus ; 
come  quickly ! 

"  After  solemn  repeated  prayer,  free  inquiry  and  debate,  and  seri- 
ous deliberation,  the  above  Testimony  and  Advice  was  signed  by 

Samuel  Moody,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  York. 

JoHx  White,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Gloucester. 

Joseph  Sewall,  pastor  of  the  South  Church  in  Boston. 

Samuel  Wigglesworth,  pastor  of  a  church  in  Ipswich. 

Ames  Cheever,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Manchester. 

Thomas  Prince,  a  pastor  of  the  South  Church  in  Boston,  —  to  the 
substance. 

John  Webb,  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Boston. 

John  Cotton,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Newton. 

Joseph  Adams,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Newington,  New  Hamp- 
shire. 

James  Allin,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Brookline. 

John  Chipman,  pastor  of  a  church  in  Beverly,  to  the  substance, 
scope,  and  end. 

William  Cooper,  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Boston. 

Thomas  Foxcroft,  a  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston. 

Joshua  Gee,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Boston. 

Joseph  Emerson,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Maiden,  to  the 
scope  and  substance. 


300  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Henry  Messinger,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Wrentham. 

James  Bayley,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Weymouth. 

Nathanael  Leonard,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Plymouth. 

Thomas  Smith,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Falmouth. 

Nathanael  Rogers,  a  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Ipswich. 

JosiAH  Cotton,  pastor  of  a  church  in  Providence,  to  the  general 
scope  and  tendency. 

Habfjah  Weld,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Attleborough,  to  the  sub- 
stance, scope  and  end. 

William  Hobby,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Reading. 

James  Pike,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Summersworth,  New  Hamp- 
shire. 

John  Warren,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Wenham. 

Nathan  Webb,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Uxbridge. 

Jedediah  Jewet,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Rowley. 

John  Emerson,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Topsfield,  to  the  scope  and 
substance. 

John  Moorhead,  pastor  of  a  church  in  Boston. 

Solomon  Prentice,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Grafton. 

James  Chandler,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Rowley. 

Othniel  Campbell,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Plyrapton. 

John  Seccomb,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Harvard. 

Ward  Cotton,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Hampton,  New 
Hampshire. 

Amos  Main,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Rochester,  New  Hampshire. 

John  Cotton,  pastor  of  the  Church  in  Halifax. 

James  Diman,  pastor  of  a  church  in  Salem,  to  the  substance,  scope, 
and  end. 

Phineas  Hemmingway,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Townshend. 

David  Goddard,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Leicester,  to  the  sub- 
stance. 

Samuel  Bachellor,  pastor  of  the  Third  Church  in  Haverhill. 

Daniel  Bliss,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Concord. 

Samuel  Tobey,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Berkley. 

Elias  Haven,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Wrentham. 

Thomas  Balch,  pastor  of  a  church  in  Dedham. 

Samuel  Chandler,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  York. 

Samuel  Hill,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Marshfield. 

Joshua  Tufts,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Litchfield,  New  Hamp- 
shire. 

Samuel  Veazie,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Duxborough. 

John  Portkr,  pastor  of  the  Fourth  Church  in  Bridgewater. 

Jonathan  Ellis,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Plymouth. 

JosiAH  Crocker,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Taunton. 

Daniel  Emerson,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Dunstable. 

Francis  Worcester,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Sandwich. 

"We,  whose  names  are  underwritten,  concur  with  the  Testimony 
for  the  substance  of  it,  excepting  that  article  of  itinerancy,  or  minis- 
ters and  others  intruding  into  other  ministers'  parishes  without  their 
consent,  which  great  disorder  we  apprehend  not  sufficiently  testified 
against  therein. 

Benjamin  Colman,  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Boston. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  301 

Joseph  Baxter,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Medfield. 
NATHANtEL  Eells,  paytof  of  tlie  Second  Ciiurch  in  Scituate. 
Joseph  Dorr,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Mendon. 
Samuel  Checkley,  pastor  of  a  church  in 'Boston. 
Benjamin  Bass,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Hanover. 
Hull  Abbot,  a  pastor  of  the  church  in  Charlestown. 
JEzRA  Carpenter,  pastor  of  the  cliurch  in  Hull. 
J'jBenezer  Turell,  pastor  of  the  church  in  JVIedford. 
Ebf.nezer  Parkmas,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Westborough. 
Thomas  Prentice,  a  pastor  of  the  church  in  Charlestown, 
Simon  Bradstreet,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Marblehead. 
John  Fowle,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Hingham. 
Andrew  Eliot,  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Boston. 
Thaddeus  Maccarty,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Kingston." 

Tlie  Attestations  published  by  the  Committee  were  from 
the  Rev.  John  Rogers,  of  Ipswich  ;  Jeremiah  Wise,  of  Ber- 
wick, Me.  ;  Peter  Thacher,  of  Middleborough  ;  Wilham 
ShurtlefF,  of  Portsmouth  ;  Jonathan  Riissel,  of  Barnstable  ; 
Benjamin  Allen,  of  Falmouth,  Me.;  William  Thompson,  of 
Scarborough,  Me.  ;  Samuel  JefFerds,  of  Wells,  Me.  ;  John 
Hovey,  of  Arundel,  Me.  ;  Nicholas  Loring,  of  North  Yar- 
mouth, Me.  ;  Moses  Morrill,  of  Biddeford,  Me.;  John  Rog- 
ers, of  Kittery  Me.  ;  Stephen  Williams,  of  Springfield  ;  Pe- 
ter Raynolds,  of  Enfield  ;  Jonathan  Edwards,  of  Northamp- 
ton ;  Samuel  Allis,  of  Somers  ;  John  Woodbridge  and  David 
Parsons,  of  Hadley  ;  Edward  Billing,  of  Coldspring  ;  Timo- 
thy Woodbridge,  of  Hatfield  ;  Chester  Williams,  of  Hadley  ; 
Daniel  Putnam,  of  Reading  ;  Oliver  Peabody,  of  Natick  ; 
John  Tucke,  of  Gosport,  N.  H.  ;  David  Hall,  of  Sutton  ; 
Benjamin  Bradstreet,  of  Gloucester  ;  John  Wales,  of  Rayn- 
ham  ;  Ivory  Hovey,  of  Rochester  ;  Nathaniel  Appleton,  of 
Cambridge  ;  Jonathan  Parker,  of  Plympton  ;  David  McGreg- 
ore,  of  Londonderry,  N.  H.  ;  Joseph  Meacham,  of  Coven- 
try, Ct.  ;  Benjamin  Lord,  of  Norwich,  Ct.  ;  Hezekiah  Lord, 
of  Preston,  Ct. ;  Solomon  Williams,  of  Lebanon,  Ct.;  Dan- 
iel Kirtland  and  Jabez  Wright,  of  Norwich,  Ct.  ;  John  Ow- 
en, of  Groton,  Ct.  ;  Samuel  Mosely,  of  Windham,  Ct.  ;  Jon- 
athan Parsons,  of  Lyme,  Ct.;  Eleazer  Wheelock,  of  Leban- 
on, Ct.  ;  Benjamin  Pomroy,  of  Hebron,  Ct.  ;  David  Jewett, 
of  New  London,  Ct.  Attestations  were  afterwards  received 
and  published,  from  the  Rev.  John  Blunt,  of  Newcastle, 
N.  H.  and  Benjamin  Ruggles  of  Middleborough.  The  num- 
ber of  signers  at  the  meeting  was  68  ;  attestors  by  letter, 
45  ;  total,  113.  But  this  was  by  no  means  the  whole  num- 
26 


302  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ber  of  those   who  were  of  the   same  sentiments,   even   in 
Massachusetts.* 

Concerning  the  statements  and  views  of  those  that  attend- 
ed the  meeting,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Prince  testified  :  — 

"That  very  few  of  the  ministers  present  in  the  late  venerable  assem- 
bly, complained  of  errors  or  disorders  in  the  parishes  they  belonged  to: 
that  several  declared  they  had  none  from  the  beginning ;  but  in  the 
extraordinary  revival  of  religion  among  their  people,  the  work  had 
been  carried  on  with  great  seriousness  and  regularity :  that  others  de- 
clared, that  where  there  had  been  some  disorders  and  mistakes  at  first 
in  some,  through  the  great  numbers  suddenly  and  mightily  awakened, 
the  great  distress  of  some  in  their  convictions,  the  great  joy  of  others 
upon  their  laying  hold  on  Christ  and  finding  a  wondrous  change  with- 
in them,  the  frailties  of  some  and  the  surprise  of  all ;  yet  in  a  little 
while  they  saw  and  owned  their  mistakes,  came  into  a  more  settled 
way  of  thinking,  speaking  and  behaving,  and  the  disorders  ceased  : 
declaring  also,  that  both  errors  and  disorders  had  been  greatly  magni- 
fied and  multiplied  above  what  they  really  were  in  the  congregations 
they  belonged  to  :  and  that,  as  far  as  they  could  learn,  the  greatest 
errors  and  disorders  were  in  those  places  where  the  ministers  opposed 
the  work,  and  thereby  lost  much  of  their  respect  and  influence." 

He  also  explained  the  qualification  annexed  to  his  own  sig- 
nature, and  to  that  of  some  others.  Tliey  objected  to  the 
clause,  "  That  ministers  do  not  invade  the  province  of  oth- 
ers, and  in  ordinary  cases  preach  in  another's  parish  without 
his  knowledge  and  against  his  consent."  They  do  not  seem 
to  have  questioned  its  correctness,  when  rightly  understood  ; 
but  they  thought  it  "in  danger  of  being  construed  and  per- 
verted to  the  great  infringement  of  Christian  and  human  liber- 
ty of  conscience." 


CHAPTER  XVn. 


Opposition  to  the   Revival  in   Connecticut. —  Pains  and  Penalties. — 

The  Separatists. 

As  early  as  1741,  some  of  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  de- 
termined to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  civil  government,  to  prevent 

*  An  attestation  was  also  sent  by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Anthony  Stoddard, 
John  Graham,  Joseph  Bellamy  and  Reuben  Judd,  of  Woodbury;  Samuel 
Cook,  of  Stratfield  ;  Hezekiah  Gold,  of  Stratford  ;  Jedidiah  Mills,  of  Rip- 
ton  ;  Ehenezer  White,  of  Danbtiry  ;  Benajah  Case,  of  New  Fairfield; 
David  Judson,of  Newton.  Ct,  and  Klisha  Kent,  of  Philippi,  N.  Y. ;  but, 
falling  into  careless  or  unfriendly  hands,  it  was  detained  till  near  the  close 
of  1744. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  303 

and  punish  disorders.     In  the  latter  part  of  that  year,  certain 
ministers  near  New  Haven   obtained  an  Act  of  the  General 
Assembly,   calling  a  "  Grand  Council,"  or  Convention,  at 
Guilford,  to  consist  of  three  ministers  and  three  lay  delegates 
from  each  association.      The  Consociation  of  ISevv   Haven 
county   met  at  New   Haven,   to  appoint  delegates,   on  the 
lOth  of  November.     The  Rev.  Mr.  Whittelsey,  of  Walling- 
ford,  proposed  that  the  delegates  should  receive  instructions, 
which  was  voted.     He  then  wrote  down  three  questions,  the 
first  of  which   was,  "whether  a  number  of  ministers  going 
abroad,  and  preaching  and  administering  the  seals  in  another 
parish,  without  the  consent  of  the  minister  of  the  parish,  be 
not  disorderly."     Voted  in  the  affirmative.  —  This  question 
may  have  been  suggested  by  events  in  Mr.  Whittelsey's  own 
parish.      There  was  a  Baptist  church  there,  the  members  of 
which    had,  some    years    before,  been   under  his    ministry. 
Near  the  close  of  the  year,   the   since   celebrated   Bellamy 
preached  to  them,  as  their  elder,  John  Merriman,  says,  "  to 
very  good  satisfaction  and  success  on  several  persons,"  some 
of  whom  were  yet  members  of  Mr.  Whittelsey's  congrega- 
tion ;  so  that  it  seemed  to  be  the  desire  of  both  denomina- 
tions, to  hear  other  Congregational  ministers  of  similar  views 
and  spirit.     Not  improbably,  there  were  symptoms  of  such  a 
state  of  things  earlier  than  November.      The  Convention  at 
Guilford  met  November  24.      They  resolved,  among  other 
things:  —  "  That,  for  a  minister  to  enter  another  minister's 
parish,  and  preach  or  administer  the  seals  of  the  covenant, 
without  the  consent  of,  or  in  opposition  to,  the  settled  minis- 
ter of  the  parish,  is  disorderly  :  notwithstanding,  if  a  con- 
siderable number  of  people  in  the  parish  are  desirous  to  hear 
another  minister  preach,  provided  the  same  be  orthodox,  and 
sound  in  the  faith,   and  not  notoriously   faulty  in   censuring 
other  persons,  or  guilty  of  any  other  scandal,  we  think  it  or- 
dinarily advisable   for  the  minister   of  the   parish   to   gratify 
them,  by  giving  his  consent  upon  their  suitable  application  to 
him  for  it,  unless  neighbouring  ministers  should  advise  him  to 
the  contrary."* 

*  Robbing'  "  Plain  Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  "  against  him.  O.  S. 
Ch.  Lib.  Trumbull  has  copied  a  large  part  of  this  pamphlet  into  his  "  His- 
tory of  Connecticut,"  and  added  some  facts  thai  occurred  after  its  publica- 
tion.—  It  is  believed  that  no  account  can  be  found  of  the  doings  of  the 
Convention  at  Guilford,  or  of  the  instructions  given  at  New  Haven  to  the 
delegates,  except  what  Robbins  has  preserved,  which  is  here  given. 


304  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

The  legislature,  at  their  next  session,  which  was  in  May, 
1742,  passed  "  An  Act  for  regulating  abuses  and  correcting 
disorders  in  ecclesiastical  affairs."  The  preamble  sets  forth, 
that  the  Assembly  did  formerly,  by  law,  establish  and  confirm 
the  Platform  of  church  government  agreed  upon  at  Saybrook 
in  1708,  under  which  peace  and  quietness  had  been  enjoyed, 
till,  of  late,  sundry  persons  had  been  guilty  of  certain  disor- 
ders ;  whereupon  the  Assembly  directed  the  calling  of  a  gen- 
eral convention  at  Guilford  in  November  last,  at  which  an 
attempt  was  made  to  prevent  growing  disorders  ;  notwith- 
standing which,  divers  ordained  ministers  and  licentiates  still 
continue  to  go  into  the  parishes  of  settled  ministers  without 
any  lawful  call,  and  there  preach  and  administer  the  seals  ; 
and  illiterate  persons,  who  have  no  ecclesiastical  character, 
set  up  as  exhorters,  by  which  they  create  disorder  in  the 
churches,  and  are  the  means  of  introducing  unqualified  men 
into  the  ministry,  especially  where  one  association  meddles 
with  affairs  that  by  the  Platform  belong  to  another. 

Here  the  Assembly  seem  to  take  it  for  granted,  that  the 
Saybrook  Platform  had  been  imposed  by  law  upon  all  the 
churches,  as  the  ecclesiastical  law  of  the  colony.  The  fact 
was  far  otherwise.  The  act  referred  to  was  entitled  "  An 
Act  in  approbation  of  the  Agreement  of  the  Reverend  Elders 
and  Messengers  of  all  the  Churches  in  this  Government, 
made  and  concluded  at  Saybrook,  in  1708."  It  declares 
"  their  great  approbation  of  such  a  happy  agreement,"  and 
ordains,  "  that  all  churches  within  this  government  that  are  or 
shall  be  thus  united  in  doctrine,  worship  and  discipline,  be, 
and  for  the  future  shall  be,  owned  and  acknowledged  estab- 
lished by  law;"  and  it  contained  a  proviso,  "that  nothing 
herein  shall  be  Intended  or  construed,  to  hinder  any  society 
or  church  that  is  or  shall  be  allowed  by  the  laws  of  this  gov- 
ernment, from  exercising  worship  and  discipline  in  their  own 
way,  according  to  their  consciences."  Accordingly,  many 
churches,  already  organized  according  to  the  Cambridge 
Platform,  still  adhered  to  it,  and  others  were  organized  on 
the  same  plan.  These  were  sometimes  called  '*  Congrega- 
tional "  churches,  by  way  of  distinction.  For  years,  no  one 
suspected  that  the  Saybrook  Platform  was  binding  on  any 
church  which  had  not  voted  to  accept  it.  Besides,  the 
Assembly  had,  in  1730,  expressly  declared  that,  besides 
churches  on  the  Saybrook  Platform,  Congregational  and 
Presbyterian  churches  were  allowed  and  protected  by  law. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  305 

The  first  section  of  the  act  of  1742  enacted,  "that  if  any 
ordained  minister  or  other  person  licensed  as  aforesaid  to 
preach,  shall  enter  into  any  parish  not  immediately  under  his 
charge,  and  shall  there  preach  or  exhort  the  people,  he  shall 
be  denied  and  secluded  the  benefit  of  any  law  of  this  colony 
made  for  the  support  and  encouragement  of  the  ministry  ; 
except  such  ordained  minister  or  licensed  person  shall  be 
expressly  invited  and  desired  so  to  enter  into  such  other  par- 
ish, and  there  to  preach  and  exhort  the  people,  either  by  the 
settled  minister  and  the  major  part  of  the  church  of  said 
parish,  or,  in  case  there  be  no  settled  minister,  then  by  the 
church  or  society  in  said  parish." 

The  second  section  enacted,  that  if  any  association  of 
ministers  "shall  undertake  to  examine  or  license  any  candi- 
date for  the  ministry,  or  assume  to  themselves  the  decision 
of  any  controversy,  or  to  counsel  and  advise  in  any  affair, 
that  by  the  Saybrook  Platform  is  within  the  province  and  ju- 
risdiction of  any  other  association  ;  then,  and  in  such  case, 
every  member  that  shall  be  present  in  such  association  so 
licensing,  deciding  or  counselling,  shall  be,  each  and  every 
of  them,  denied  and  secluded  the  benefit  of  any  law  of  this 
colony,  made  for  the  support  and  encouragement  of  the  min- 
istry." 

The  third  section  prescribed  the  mode  of  inflicting  pun- 
ishment;  for  punishment  was  to  be  inflicted  without  trial. 
The  minister  of  the  parish  in  which  any  such  offence  should 
be  committed,  or  the  civil  authority,  or  any  two  of  the  com- 
mittee of  the  parish,  were  to  send  an  information  thereof  in 
writing,  under  their  hands,  to  the  clerk  of  the  offender's  own 
parish  ;  and  then  the  clerk  was  to  stop  all  legal  proceedings 
for  collecting  the  offender's  salary.  No  provision  was  made 
for  cases  in  which  false  information  might  be  sent  to  the 
clerk,  either  by  mistake  or  design. 

The  fourth  section  was  directed  against  "exhorters,"  who 
were  forbidden  to  hold  forth,  unless  invited  as  required  \h  the 
first  section. 

The  last  section  enacted,  "that  if  any  stranger  or  for- 
eigner, that  is  not  an  inhabitant  within  this  colony,  including 
as  well  such  persons  that  have  no  ecclesiastical  character  or 
license  to  preach,  as  such  as  have  received  ordination  or  li- 
cense to  preach  by  any  association  or  presbytery,  shall  pre- 
sume to  preach,  teach,  or  publicly  to  exhort  in  any  town  or 
26* 


306  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

society  within  this  colony,  without  the  desire  and  hcense  of 
the  settled  minister  and  major  part  of  the  church,  town  or 
society,  or  at  the  call  and  desire  of  the  church  and  inhabit- 
ants of  such  town  or  society,  provided  that  it  so  happen  that 
there  is  no  settled  minister  there  ;  that  every  such  teacher  or 
exhorter  shall  be  sent,  as  a  vagrant  person,  by  warrant  from 
any  one  assistant  or  justice  of  the  peace,  from  constable  to 
constable,  out  of  the  bounds  of  this  colony."* 

This  was  the  law  against  which  Davenport  declaimed  so 
violently  ;  and  this  was  the  session  at  which  he  was  brought 
before  the  Assembly  and  sent  home  to  Southold,  as  before 
related.  At  the  same  session,  the  Assembly  advised  the 
faculty  of  the  college  at  New  Haven,  that  all  proper  care 
should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  students  from  imbibing  the 
errors  that  prevailed  among  the  Separatists,  and  that  those 
who  would  not  be  orderly  and  submissive,  should  be  expelled. 

The  General  Association  met  at  New  London,  June  15, 
1742,  soon  after  this  act  was  passed.  Trumbull  furnishes 
the  following  extract  from  its  records  : 

"This  General  Association  being  of  opinion,  that  the  God  of  all 
grace  has  been  mercifully  pleased  to  remember  and  visit  his  people, 
by  stirring  up  great  numbers  among  us  to  a  concern  fur  their  souls, 
and  to  be  asking  the  way  to  Zion,  with  their  faces  thitherward,  which 
we  desire  to  take  notice  of  with  great  thankfulness  to  the  Father  of 
mercies:  being  also  of  opinion,  that  the  great  enemy  of  souls,  who  is 
ever  ready  with  his  devices  to  check,  damp  and  destroy  the  work  of 
God,  is  very  busy  for  that  purpose  :  we  think  it  our  duty  to  advise 
and  entreat  the  ministers  and  churches  of  this  colony,  and  recommend 
it  to  the  particular  associations,  to  stand  well  upon  their  guard,  in  such 
a  day  as  this,  that  no  detriment  arise  to  the  interests  of  our  great  Lord 
and  Master,  Jesus  Christ: 

"Particularly,  that  no  errors  in  doctrine,  whether  from  among  our- 
selves or  foreigners,  nor  disorders  in  practice,  do  get  in  among  us,  or 
tares  be  sown  in  the  Lord's  field  : 

"That  seasonable  and  due  testimony  be  borne  against  such  errors 
and  irregularities  as  do  already  prevail  among  some  persons ;  as  par- 
ticularly, t!ie  depending  upon  and  following  impulses  and  impressions 
made  on  the  mind,  as  though  they  were  immediate  revelations  of 
some  truth  or  duty  that  is  not  revealed  in  the  word  of  God;  laying  too 
much  weight  on  bodily  agitations,  raptures,  extasies,  visions,  &c.; 
ministers  disorderly  intruding  into  other  minister's  parishes ;  laymen 
taking  it  upon  them,  in  an  unwarrantable  manner,  publicly  to  teach 
and  exhort;  rash  censuring  and  judging  others;  that  the  elders  be 
careful  to  take  heed  to  themselves  and  their  doctrine,  that  they  may 
save  themselves  and  those  that  hear  them ;  that  they  approve  them- 
selves in   all  things  as  mmisters  of  God,  by  honor  and  dishonor,  by 

"  See  the  Act,  entire,  in  Trumbull's  "  History  of  Connecticut." 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  307 

good  report  and  evil  report;  that  none  be  lifted  up  by  applause  to  a 
vain  conceit,  nor  any  be  cast  down  by  any  contempt  thrown  upon  them, 
to  the  neglect  of  their  work ;  and  that  they  study  unity,  love  and 
peace  among  themselves : 

"  And  further,  that  they  endeavour  to  heal  the  unhappy  divisions  that 
are  already  made  in  some  of  the  churches,  and  that  the  like  may  for  the 
future  be  prevented;  that  a  just  deference  be  paid  to  the  laws  of  the 
magistrate,  lately  made  to  suppress  disorders;  that  no  countenance  be 
given  to  such  as  trouble  our  churches,  who  are,  according  to  the  con- 
stitution of  our  churches,  under  censure,  suspension  or  deposition,  for 
errors  in  doctrine  or  life." 

The  consociation  of  New  Haven  county  met  September 
28,  thanked  the  legislature  for  passing  the  act  against  disor- 
ders, and  prayed  that  it  might  continue  in  force. 

At  their  session  in  May,  1743,  the  Assembly  repealed  the 
"  Act  for  the  Relief  of  Sober  Consciences,"  as  it  was  usu- 
ally called.  That  act  was  passed  in  1708,  the  year  in  which 
the  Saybrook  Platform  was  adopted.  It  provided  that  such 
as  soberly  dissented  from  the  prevailing  worship  and  belief, 
might,  on  taking  certain  oaths  required  in  the  English  act  of 
toleration,  be  exempt  from  taxation  for  the  support  of  the 
ministers  from  whom  they  dissented.  Now,  as  this  act  was 
repealed,  sober  dissenters  had  no  longer  any  mode  of  relief, 
except  by  applying  severally  to  the  Assembly,  for  a  special 
act  to  meet  each  individual  case  ;  and  the  Assembly  was 
growing  continually  more  averse  to  granting  any  such  indul- 
gence. At  the  same  session,  an  order  was  passed  for  the 
arrest  of  the  Rev.  John  Owen  of  Groton,  for  uttering  hard 
speeches  against  the  laws  and  officers  of  the  colony  ;  but  the 
secretary  neglected  to  issue  the  writ. 

There  was  a  church  at  Milford,  which  declared  itself 
Presbyterian,  put  itself  under  the  care  of  the  New  Brunswick 
Presbytery,  and  applied  to  that  body  to  send  them  a  preacher. 
They  sent  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley,  afterwards  president  of 
the  college  at  Princeton.  He  came,  but  was  sent  out  of  the 
colony  as  a  "  vagrant."  He  afterwards  returned,  and  preach- 
ed to  a  Congregational  church  at  New  Haven  ;  probably,  that 
which  had  been  gathered  after  Davenport's  first  visit.  He 
was  arrested,  and  sentenced  to  be  again  transported  from  the 
colony  ;  but  through  the  negligence,  perhaps  intentional,  of 
some  officer,  the  sentence  was  but  partly  executed,  and  he 
returned  and  preached  a  third  time.  Both  these  churches 
had  been  legally  recognised  as  churches,  under  the  laws  of 
the  colony.  His  preaching,  it  was  said,  "  greatly  disquieted 
and  disturbed  the  people,"  and  was  the  principal  motive  for 


308  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

an  additional  act,  passed  by  the  Assembly  in  October,  1743. 
This  additional  act  required,  that  every  person  transported 
under  the  former,  should  pay  the  costs  of  his  transportation  ; 
and  if  he  should  return  again  and  offend  in  the  same  way,  it 
was  made  the  duty  of  any  assistant  or  justice  of  the  peace, 
on  information,  to  cause  him  to  be  arrested,  and  to  give  bonds 
in  the  penal  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  lawful  money,  for 
his  peaceable  and  good  behaviour  till  the  next  county  court  in 
that  county,  and  that  he  would  not  thus  offend  again  ;  and 
the  next  county  court  might,  if  they  should  see  cause,  fur- 
ther bind  him  during  their  pleasure.*  The  Association  of 
New  Haven  county  also  took  up  the  matter,  and  formally 
resolved  that  no  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  Bruns- 
wick should  be  admitted  into  any  of  their  pulpits,  till  satis- 
faction had  been  made  for  sending  Mr.  Finley  to  preach 
within  their  bounds. f 

At  this  same  session,  the  Assembly  ordered  the  arrest  of 
the  Rev.  John  Owen,  of  Groton,  and  Benjamin  Pomroy,  of 
Hebron,  but  it  was  not  executed  till  the  next  session.  They 
carried  proscription  into  the  affairs  of  government.  Justices 
of  the  peace,  and  other  subordinate  officers  who  were  deem- 
ed "  New  Lights,"  were  removed  from  office,  and  men  of 
different  views  were  put  in  their  places.  This  policy  was 
rigidly  maintained  till  1748,  when  some,  at  least,  of  the  dis- 
placed "  New  Light  "  justices  were  restored. 

These  laws  were  not  allowed  to  remain  a  mere  dead  letter. 
Both  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  joined  to  enforce 
them.  A  few  instances  of  their  execution,  which  Trumbull 
has  preserved,  may  serve  as  specimens  of  many. 

Soon  after  the  first  of  these  laws  was  enacted,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Pomroy,  of  Hebron,  received  an  invitation  from  some 
of  the  people  of  Colchester,  to  preach  to  them.  From  the 
habits  of  intimate  and  friendly  intercourse  which  existed  be- 
tween them,  he  never  suspected  that  it  could  be  otherwise 
than  agreeable  to  Mr.  Little,  the  pastor,  and  made  the  ap- 
pointment accordingly.     Contrary  to  expectation,  Mr.  Little 

*  See  "The  Essential  Rights  and  Liberties  of  Protestants.  A  Seasonable 
Plea  for  Liberty  of  Conscience  and  the  Right  of  Private  Judgment  in  matters 
of  Religion,  without  any  control  from  Human  autliorily."  O.  S  Ch.  Lib. 
Backus  says,  that  Col.  Elisha  Williams,  afterwards  president  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, and  "  the  best  president  they  ever  had,"  was  its  "  undoubted  author." 
The  true  doctrines  of  liberty  have  seldom  been  so  well  exhibited  and  de- 
fended, even  in  1776. 

t  Trumbull. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  309 

objected,  and  forbade  him  to  preach  in  his  meetinghouse. 
A  great  concourse  of  people  had  assembled,  from  several 
towns.  Mr.  Pomroy  preached  to  them  in  a  grove.  A  cer- 
tificate of  this  fact  was  lodged  with  the  clerk  of  his  society, 
which  of  course  annulled  the  legal  contract  between  him  and 
his  people,  for  his  support,  and  during  the  next  seven  years, 
he  was  dependent  on  the  voluntary  contributions  of  his 
hearers. 

The  orders  for  his  arrest,  and  that  of  Mr.  Owen  of  Gro- 
ton,  have  been  mentioned.  They  were  brought  before  the 
Assembly  in  May,  1744.  Mr.  Owen  made  such  concessions, 
thai  he  was  released  on  paying  the  costs.  Mr.  Pomroy  also 
made  some  concessions  ;  but  he  had  said  some  hard  things 
against  these  laws,  which,  as  he  knew  them  to  be  true,  he 
could  not  retract.  He  was  sentenced  to  pay  costs,  £32, 10s. 
Sd,  and  to  give  bonds  in  the  sum  of  £50  for  his  good  beha- 
viour till  the  next  May. 

Many  of  the  leading  clergy  were  accused  of  Arminianism. 
They  indignantly  denied  the  charge.  The  truth  seems  to 
have  been,  that  they  were  moderate  Calvinists  in  their  doc- 
trinal discussions,  but  Arminian  in  their  "practical  applica- 
tions." They  discussed  the  doctrines  of  original  sin,  regen- 
eration and  justification  by  faith,  like  Calvinists  ;  but  advised 
and  exhorted  their  people  just  as  Arminianism  would  have 
taught  them  to  do.  They  led  their  hearers  to  believe,  that 
by  a  certain  round  of  duties,  performed  while  still  impenitent, 
they  might  insure  their  regeneration  ;  that  regeneration  would 
probably  come  in  a  still,  quiet  way,  so  that  neither  they  nor 
others  would  perceive  any  very  decided  change  at  any  one 
time  ;  and  that  the  proper  course  for  a  sinner  to  take  was,  to 
go  steadily  about  the  duties  which  God  has  appointed  for  im- 
penitent sinners  to  perform  before  conversion,  and  leave  the 
event  with  God.  Whatever  they  meant,  such  was  the  state 
into  which  they  threw  the  minds  of  their  followers.  It  was, 
practically,  Arminianism.  If  any  one  preached  Calvinism 
thoroughly,  to  the  very  end  of  his  sermon,  maintaining  that 
God  has  made  no  promise  to  such  as  industriously  perform 
certain  duties  while  impenitent  ;  that  nothing  done  during 
impenitence  counts  at  all  towards  the  justification  of  the 
doer  ;  that  deferring  repentance  and  faith,  and  doing  some- 
thing else  first,  is  flat  rebellion  against  God  ;  all  such  preach- 
ing was  said  to  make  people  think  lightly  of  good  works,  and 
was  condennied  as  "  Aniinomian."     And  it  must  be  confess- 


310  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ed  that  some,  in  their  zeal  against  the  prevalent  theology, 
did  become  really  Antinomian,  and  others  were  sometimes 
led,  in  the  heat  of  argument,  to  use  Antinomian  language. 
It  was  the  policy  of  the  Arminianizing  clergy,  to  strengthen 
their  party  by  ordaining  young  men  who  adopted  their  views, 
wherever  they  could,  even  over  churches  where  there  were 
strong  opposing  minorities  ;  and  they  were  accused  of  doing 
it,  even  where  the  dissentients  were  the  majority.  This  was 
one  principal  ground  of  the  "separations,"  of  which  so  much 
was  said.  As  early  as  1738,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Whittelsey, 
son  of  Mr.  Whittelsey  of  Wallingford,  was  ordained  at  Mil- 
ford,  against  the  remonstrance  of  a  large  minority.  A  part 
of  the  people  seceded  and  formed  the  Presbyterian  church, 
for  preaching  to  which  Mr.  Finley  was  transported  from  the 
colony.  These  Presbyterians  were  compelled,  by  legal  pro- 
cesses, to  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  Mr.  Whittelsey. 

The  church  at  Canterbury  was  strictly  Congregational, 
being  organized  on  the  Cambridge  Platform,  During  the 
revival,  its  members  were  divided  into  parties.  Some  of 
them  seem  to  have  become  decidedly  Antinomian  and  fanat- 
ical. One  party,  acting  in  the  name  of  the  church,  gave  a 
call  to  Mr.  James  Cogswell,  to  become  their  pastor.  This 
was  probably  in  the  summer  of  1744.  The  other  party 
pronounced  Mr.  Cogswell  an  unconverted  man,  refused  to 
hear  him,  and  maintained  separate  meetings.  They  asserted 
that  they  were  a  majority  of  the  church,  and  therefore  were 
the  church.  The  other  party,  counting  some  twelve  or 
fifteen  against  whom  a  vote  of  excommunication  had  been 
passed,  advanced  a  similar  claim,  and  invited  the  Consocia- 
tion of  Windham  county  to  ordain  Mr.  Cogswell.  This,  it 
was  understood,  would  bring  the  church  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Consociation,  according  to  the  Saybrook  Plat- 
form. Among  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Cogswell  was  a  Mr. 
Cleaveland,  who  had  two  sons,  John  and  Ebenezer,  in  col- 
lege at  New  Haven.  Being  at  home  in  September,  while 
Mr  Cogswell  was  preaching  to  the  other  party,  they  attended 
worship  with  their  father,  and  one  of  them,  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  On  their 
return  to  college,  they  were  expelled,  November  19,  for 
attending  the  meeting  of  the  Separatists  at  Canterbury.  In 
this  expulsion,  the  Faculty  declared  that  they  acted  in  view 
of  the  advice   given  them  by  the   legislature  in  May,  1742. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  311 

The  facts  became  known,  and  produced  a  deep  sensation 
throughout  the  colony.  About  this  lime,  some  members  of 
the  Senior  class  in  college  subscribed  money  for  printing  an 
edition  of  Locke's  Essay  on  Toleration.  The  Faculty 
heard  of  it,  called  the  offenders  before  them,  and  extorted 
confessions  from  all  but  one.  Just  before  commencement, 
the  obstinate  senior  found  that  his  name  was  omitted  in  the 
list  of  these  on  whom  degrees  were  to  be  conferred.  He 
went  to  the  Faculty,  and  told  them  that  he  was  of  age,  and 
had  property  wherewith  to  defend  his  rights  ;  and  that,  if  his 
degree  was  withheld,  he  would  apply  to  the  King  in  council 
for  redress.  He  then  left  them  ;  but  was  soon  informed  that 
he  might  take  his  degree  with  his  class. 

December  28,  the  Consociation  ordained  Mr.  Cogswell  as 
pastor  of  the  church  at  Canterbury.  About  fifty  families 
refused  to  acknowledge  him  as  their  pastor,  or  the  Consocia- 
tion as  a  body  authorized  to  act  in  the  case  ;  adhered  to  the 
Cambridge  Platform,  and  maintained  separate  worship,  at 
which  "exhorters"  were  often,  if  not  commonly  employed, 
and  which  seems  not  to  have  been  remarkable  for  sound  doc- 
trine, a  Christian  spirit,  or  decorousness  of  demeanor.  Some 
of  the  "  exhorters  "  were  arrested,  and  as  they  refused  to 
give  the  required  bonds  in  the  sum  of  <£  100,  to  cease  from 
exhorting,  were  imprisoned.  Some  of  the  people  had  their 
property  seized  and  sold  by  legal  process,  to  pay  Mr.  Cogs- 
well's salary  ;  and  others  were  imprisoned  to  compel  them  to 
pay.  Others,  Trumbull  says,  were  arrested  and  imprisoned 
for  not  hearing  him. 

The  effort  to  enforce  the  universal  reception  of  the  Say- 
brook  Platform  seems  to  have  been  vigorous  and  determined. 
A  new  church  was  formed  at  Salisbury,  on  the  Cambridge 
Platform,  and  the  Rev.  John  Lee  was  ordained  as  its  pastor 
in  1744.  The  Association  of  New  Haven  county  reprimand- 
ed the  church  for  adopting  that  Platform,  and  suspended 
Messrs.  Humphreys  of  Derby,  Leavenworth  of  Waterbury, 
and  Todd  of  Northbury,  from  the  ministry,  for  assisting  in 
the  ordination.  The  ordination,  however,  could  not  be  an- 
nulled. In  1766,  Lee  was  still  pastor  at  Salisbury,  and 
preached  the  election  sermon  before  the  legislature.  Hum- 
phreys was  at  one  time  expelled  from  the  Association,  for 
preaching  to  a  Baptist  church.* 

*  There  were  probably  some  circumstances  which  were  thought  to  aggra- 
vate the  offence ;  but  Trumbull  mentions  none. 


312  THE    GREAT  AWAKENING. 

An  attempt  was  also  made  to  enforce  the  Saybrook  Plat- 
form against  the  First  Church  in  Branford,  and  its  pastor, 
the  Rev.  Philemon  Robbins.  The  Baptists  in  Wallingford, 
just  after  Mr.  Bellamy  had  preached  to  them,  as  mentioned  in 
the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  obtained  a  promise  from  Mr. 
Robbins,  to  preach  to  them  on  the  sixth  of  January,  1742. 
Before  he  went,  he  received  a  request  from  forty-two  mem- 
bers of  Mr.  Whittelsey's  church  in  Wallingfoj'd,  to  abstain 
from  preaching  there,  and  a  line  signed  by  two  ministers  of 
neighboring  parishes,  advising  him  not  to  go.  Still,  as  he 
had  promised,  and  as  "it  was  a  time  of  religious  concern 
among  them,"  he  went,  and  preached  two  sermons,  with 
good  effect.  For  this,  a  complaint  was  entered  against  him 
at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Consociation,  February  9.  As 
his  preaching  was  before  the  Act  against  Disorders,  he  could 
not  be  deprived  of  his  salary  for  it  ;  and  as  he  and  his  church 
had  never  adopted  the  Saybrook  Platform,*  it  was  difficult  to 
force  him  to  a  trial.  The  Consociation,  however,  continued 
to  harass  him  till  September,  1746,  when,  after  an  ex  parte 
trial,  and  after  hearing  the  charges  and  testimony  against  him, 
they  pronounced  him  guilty.  A  year  or  two  after,  as  he  made 
no  confession,  the  Consociation  voted  to  depose  him  from 
the  ministry.  The  act  of  deposition  was  never  rescinded, 
but  he  continued  to  act  as  pastor  of  the  church.  In  1755, 
the  Consociation  invited  him  to  take  part  with  them  in  an 
ordination  ;  after  which  he  was  treated  as  if  these  things  had 
never  happened. 

The  charges  on  which  he  was  condemned,  and  his  own 
statements  concerning  them,  are  instructive,  as  they  show 
how  men,  at  that  day,  first  misunderstood  and  then  misrepre- 
sented each  other.  Mr.  Robbins,  in  arguing  against  the 
doctrine,  "  that  the  death  of  Christ  not  only  satisfied  for,  but 
wholly  took  away,  original  sin  from  all  persons,"  said  : 
"  Even  infants  were  by  nature  children  of  wrath,  and,  while 
unsanctified,  were  as  odious  in  the  sight  of  God  as  snakes  or 
vipers  are  to  us  ;  "  adding,  that  serpents,  when  they  first 
come  into  the  world,  are  not  odious  on  account  of  any  mis- 
chief they  have  done,  but  because  of  their  serpentine  nature  ; 
and  also,  that  "  no  doubt,    multitudes  of  them    [infants]  are 

•  This  was  one  of  the  churches  which  refused  to  send  messengers  to  the 
convention  which  formed  the  Saybrook  Platform.     Trumbull. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  31 


o 


sanctified  and  saved."  On  this  was  founded  a  charge,  that 
he  had  "  taken  it  upon  him  to  determine  the  state  of  infants 
dying  in  infancy,  declaring  that  they  were  as  odious  in  the 
sight  of  God,  as  snakes  and  vipers  were  unto  us  ;  and  left  it 
wholly  in  the  dark,  whether  there  was  any  saved  or  not." 
He  had  taught,  that  "  there  is  no  promise  of  any  saving  good, 
in  all  the  Bible,  made  to  any  unconverted  man,  or  any  sinner 
while  in  an  unconverted  state."  He  was  charged  with 
teaching,  "  that  there  is  no  promise  in  all  the  Bible  that  be- 
longs to  sinners  ;  "  and  this  was  condemned  as  "Antinomian- 
ism."  He  had  sai~d  :  —  "When  a  sinner  is  converted,  he 
knows  it.  That  is,  he  knows  the  change,  though  it  may  be 
he  is  not  satisfied,  or  rather,  does  not  then  think,  that  it  is 
conversion.  — Yet,  can  a  man  be  brought  out  of  the  kingdom 
of  Satan  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  can  a  man  be 
brought  out  of  midnight  darkness  into  noonday  light,  and  not 
know  there  is  a  change  ?"  This  struck  at  the  hopes  of  a 
numerous  class,  who  were  comforting  themselves  with  the 
belief,  that  regeneration  is  to  be  expected  by  all  who  observe 
certain  moral  and  religious  rules,  but  takes  place  so  quietly, 
and  produces  so  little  change  at  the  time,  that  neither  the 
person  himself,  nor  his  most  intimate  friends,  can  know  any 
thing  about  it.  He  was  therefore  accused  of  teaching,  "that 
it  as  easy  for  persons  to  know  when  they  are  converted,  as  it  is 
to  know  noonday  light  from  midnight  darkness."  He  had  said, 
"  The  most  vicious  person  stands  as  fair  or  fairer  for  con- 
viction and  conversion,  than  the  strictest  mere  moralist,  that 
is  settled  upon  his  lees  and  built  strong  on  his  own  righ- 
teousness. Publicans  and  harlots  shall  enter  the  kindom  be- 
fore such."  He  was  accused  of  teachins;,  "  That  the  most 
vicious  or  vilest  person  stands  as  fair  or  fairer  for  conviction 
and  conversion  than  the  strictest  moral  man  ;  thereby  making 
holiness  and  obedience  to  the  law  of  God  no  way  necessary 
to  be  found  in  men  for  their  salvation."  There  had  also 
been  some  disorderly  proceedings  introduced  into  meetings 
for  worship  by  Davenport,  Brainerd,  and  Buel.  Some  of 
these  Mr.  Robbins  endeavoured  to  prevent  at  the  time,  and 
others  he  regretted  afterwards.  His  real  offence  doubtless 
was,  being  a  zealous,active  and  efficient  promoter  of  the  re- 
vival. For  this,  a  member  of  the  Consociation  told  one  of 
his  uneasy  people,  —"If  you  can  get  hold  of  Mr.  Robbins, 
27 


314  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

catch  hold."     That   expression,  the    man    said,  opened   his 
eyes,  and  he  afterwards  sustained  his  pastor.* 

One  charge  against  Mr.  Rohbins  was,  "  his  justifying  Mr. 
Allen  [Rev.  Timothy  Allen,  of  West  Haven]  in  his  com- 
paring the  Scriptures  to  an  old  alnianac."  On  this,  Mr. 
Rohbins  remarks  :  "  I  have  no  otherways  justified  Mr.  Allen, 
than  only  by  telling  the  answer  he  made  to  his  charge,  which 
was,  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  thus  :  '  The  reading  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  without  the  concurring  influence  and  opera- 
tion of  the  Spirit  of  God,  will  no  more  convert  a  sinner,  than 
the  reading  an  old  almanac'  I  have  heard  him  lament  the 
manner  of  expression,  and  he  has  offered  to  confess  it  to  the 
Association  of  this  county.  But  the  news  of  a  man's  peni- 
tence seldom  reaches   so  far    as  the   sound   of  his  crime." 

This  story  of  Mr.  Allen  circulated  extensively,  and  was 
put  into  several  shapes.  Dr.  Chauncy  wanted  it  to  put 
into  his  book  against  the  revival,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Whittel- 
sey,  scribe  of  the  Consociation,  for  an  authentic  statement. 
Whittelsey  replied  officially,  after  examining  his  documents: 
"  I  find  one  of  the  articles  charged  and  proved  against  him 
was,  that  he  had  publicly  said,  that  the  word  of  God,  as  con- 
tained in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  is  but  as  an  old  alma- 
nac ;  for  which,  and  various  other  crimes  proved  against  him, 
he,  continuing  obstinate,  was  deposed  by  the  Consociation." 
The  letter  published  in  Scotland  on  the  "  State  of  Religion 
in  New  England,"  said  of  Connecticut :  "The  people  in  that 
colony  are  still  wilder  than  these  in  Boston.  The  converts 
all  pretend  to  a  light  within,  without  the  direction  of  which 
they  will  not  go  about  the  ordinary  offices  of  life.  One  of 
their  ministers  is  dismissed  from  his  people,  for  preaching 
that  an  unconverted  man  is  not  capable  of  understanding  one 
word  of  the  Bible,  and  that  to  a  converted  man  it  is  no  better 
than  an  old  almanac,  because  he  has  a  brighter  light  with- 
in him.  But  not  many  parishes  would  have  turned  away 
their  minister  for  such  an  opinion  as  this."  It  underwent 
other  equally  gross  perversions.  According  to  Trumbull, 
Allen  lamented  the  improper  language  in  which  he  had  ex- 
pressed his  meaning,  when  on  his  trial  before  the  Consocia- 
tion. Yet  they  deposed  him,  saying,  that  they  had  blown  out 
one  New  Light,  and  would  blow  them  all  out.      This  was  in 

*  Robbins'  "  Plain  Narrative."     O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  315 

1741.  In  1800,  he  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Chesterfield, 
Mass.,  at  the  age  of  85.  His  "  other  crimes  "  are  not  spe- 
cified ;  but  were  probably  indiscreet  efforts  for  the  conversion 
of  men. 

The  case  of  the  Separatists  demands  a  distinct  considera- 
tion ;  a  matter  of  some  difficulty,  from  the  want  of  sufficient 
documents,  and  from  the  fact,  evident  from  such  documents 
as  remain,  that  they  neither  clearly  understood  themselves, 
nor  were  understood  by  their  contemporaries.  Enough  may 
be  learned,  however,  to  establish  some  important  facts. 

They  prevailed  mostly  in  New  London  and  Windham 
counties.  Here,  notwithstanding  legal  enactments,  they 
continued  to  grow,  and  even  gained  strength  from  opposition. 
Many  of  the  clergy  seem  to  have  labored  earnestly  and  with 
a  good  spirit  for  their  recovery,  but  with  httle  success. 

December  11,  1744,  the  "  Associated  Ministers  of  the 
County  of  Windham  "  addressed  a  Letter*  on  this  subject 
"to  the  people  in  the  several  societies  in  said  county." 
They  commence  by  expressing  their  conviction,  that  "  there 
has  been  of  late,  in  a  few  years  past,  a  very  great  and  merci- 
ful revival  of  religion  in  most  of  the  towns  and  societies  in 
this  county,  as  well  as  in  many  other  parts  of  the  land." 
They  also  believe  that  the  prince  of  darkness,  unable  any 
longer  to  destroy  men  by  keeping  them  in  a  state  of  security 
and  formality,  was  compelled  to  resort  to  a  new  device, 
"  imitating,  as  nearly  as  he  could,  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  both  by  setting  on  imaginary  frights  and  terrors,  in 
some  instances,  on  men's  minds,  somewhat  resembling  the 
convictions  of  the  blessed  Spirit  and  awakenings  of  the  con- 
science for  sin,  and  also  filling  their  minds  with  flashes  of  joy 
and  false  comforts,  resembling  somewhat,  in  a  general  way, 
the  consolations  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  —  This,  in  its  beginning, 
was  not  so  plainly  discerned  and  distinguished,  in  many  in- 
stances, from  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  especially  as  there 
was  sometimes  a  mixture  of  such  things  with  the  true  expe- 
riences of  the  people  of  God  ;  and  it  was  also  partly  owing 
to  the  injudicious  and  violent  opposition  of  some  to  this  work, 
who,  while  they  saw  bad  things  attending  it,  and  many  people 
taken  with  them,  boldly  concluded  it  was  all  of  a  piece,  and, 
with  tremendous  rashness,  ascribed  it  all  to  the  devil  ;  while 

*  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


316  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Others-,  on  the  other  hand,  looking  on  the  good,  and  being 
jDersLiaded  that  it  was  a  day  of  God's  wonderful  power  and 
gracious  visitation,  suddenly  and  weakly  concluded,  that 
there  was  little  wrong  in  the  appearances,  besides  mere  hu- 
man weaknesses  and  unavoidable  infirmity."  In  the  progress 
of  the  work,  they  believed  Satan  had  succeeded  in  instigating 
some  to  provoke  persecution,  by  which  they  were  hardened 
more  and  more  in  their  errors,  "and  many  are  drawn  away 
after  them,  partly  out  of  pity  to  them,  and  by  wrong  con- 
clusions, that  their  sufferings  are  an  evidence  that  they  are 
right,  and  partly  out  of  opposition  to  others,  whom  they  think 
to  be  carnal  and  ungodly  men."  "  Some  of  the  most  con- 
siderable "  of  the  errors  of  the  Separatists,  the  Association 
state  to  be, 

"  1.  That  it  is  the  will  of  God  to  have  a  pure  church  on  earth,  in 
this  sense,  that  all  the  converted  should  be  separated  from  the  uncon- 
verted, 

"  2.  That  the  saints  certainly  know  one  another,  and  know  who  are 
Christ's  true  ministers,  by  their  own  inward  feelings,  or  a  communion 
between  them  in  the  inward  actings  of  their  own  souls. 

"3.  That  no  other  call  is  necessary  to  a  person  undertaking  to  preach 
the  gospel,  but  his  being  a  true  Christian,  and  having  an  inward  mo- 
tion of  the  Spirit,  or  a  persuasion  in  his  own  mind,  that  it  is  the  will 
of  God  that  he  should  preach  and  perform  ministerial  acts:  the  con- 
sequence of  which  is,  that  there  is  no  standing  instituted  ministry  in 
the  Christian  church,  which  may  be  known  by  the  visible  laws  of 
Christ's  kingdom. 

"  4.  That  God  disowns  the  ministry  and  churches  in  this  land,  and 
the  ordinances  as  administered  by  them. 

5.  That  at  such  meetings  of  lay  preaching  and  exhorting,  they  have 
more  of  the  presence  of  God  than  in  his  ordinances,  and  under  the 
ministration  of  the  present  ministry,  and  the  administration  of  the  ordi- 
nances in  these  churches.'" 

Proof  was  then  adduced  of  the  errors  of  one  of  the  ex- 
horters,  Mr.  Elisha  Paine,  who  had  formerly  been  encour- 
aged by  someof  the  ministers,  and  who  was  "  known  to  be  of 
much  superior  ability  to  the  others."  It  appears  from  the  tes- 
timony, that  for  want  of  clear  ideas  concerning  the  Trinity,  Mr. 
Paine  sometimes  used  language  tinctured  wilh  Sabellianism  ; 
and  that  he  held  saving  faith  to  be,  the  persuasion  of  a  sinner, 
that  Christ  died  for  him  in  particular.  He  held  the  doctrine 
of  a  particular  atonement  ;  that  is,  that  Christ  died  for  cer- 
tain individuals,  and  not  for  others  ;  and  that  in  conversion, 
God  reveals  to  the  sinner  the  fact,  that  he  is  one  of  that 
number.     He  held,  too,  that  the  saints,  by  virtue  of  grace  in 


THE  GREAT  AWAKEiMNG.  317 

themselves,  know  the  certainty  of  grace  in  others  ;  so  that 
they  need  not  mistake  in  distinguishing  the  converted  from 
the  unconverted.  He  had  also  declared,  that  "  it  was  made 
manifest  to  him,  that  Christ  was  about  to  have  a  pure  church, 
and  that  he  had  not  done  his  duty  in  time  past  in  promoting 
separations  and  divisions  among  the  people,  and  that  for  time 
to  come  he  should  endeavour  to  promote  and  encourage  sepa- 
rations ;  and  that  likewise  Christ's  own  ministers  would  have 
their  churches  rent  from  them  by  reason  of  their  not  doing 
their  duty  in  that  respect."  Being  asked  what  duty  they 
neglected,  he  replied,  that  "  they  did  not  separate  those  who 
were  converted  from  the  unconverted  in  the  church." 

About  a  year  afterwards,  (October  9,  1745,)  a  Separate 
church  was  organized  at  Mansfield,  whose  Confession  of  Faith 
throws  clearer  light  on  some  parts  of  their  belief.  Among 
them  are 

'^Article  15.  We  believe  we  are  of  that  number  who  were  elected 
of  God  to  eternal  life,  and  that  Christ  did  live  on  earth,  die  and  rise 
again  for  us  in  particular;  that  he  doth  now,  in  virtue  of  his  own 
merits  and  satisfaction,  make  intercession  to  God  for  us,  and  that  we 
are  now  justified  in  the  sight  of  God  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  and  shall 
be  owned  by  him  at  the  great  and  general  judgment ;  —  which  God 
hath  made  us  to  believe  by  sending,  according  to  his  promise,  (John 
16,)  the  Holy  Ghost  into  our  souls,  who  hath  made  particular  applica- 
tion of  the  above  articles." 

"  18.  That  all  doubting  in  a  behever  is  sinful,  being  contrary  to  the 
command  of  God,  and  hurtful  to  the  soul,  and  an  hindrance  to  the 
performance  of  duty." 

"20,  We  believe,  by  the  testimony  of  Scripture  and  by  our  own  ex- 
perience, that  true  believers,  by  virtue  of  their  union  to  Christ  by 
faith,  have  communion  with  God,  and  by  the  same  faith  are  in  Christ 
united  to  one  another  ;  which  is  the  unity  of  tlie  Spirit,  whereby  they 
are  made  partakers  of  each  other's  gifts  and  graces,  without  which 
union  there  can  be  no  communion  with  God,  nor  with  the  saints." 

"21.  That  whoever  presumes  to  administer  or  partake  of  the  seals 
of  the  covenant  of  grace  without  saving  faith,  are*  guilty  of  sacrilege, 
and  are  in  danger  of  sealing  their  own  damnation." 

22.  [This  relates  to  the  church,  and  has,  among  others,  these  par- 
ticulars: — 

"  3.  That  true  believers,  and  they  only,  have  a  right  to  give  up  their 
children  to  God  in  baptism." 

"  7.  That  at  all  times  the  doors  of  the  church  should  be  carefully 
kept  against  such  as  cannot  give  a  satisfying  evidence  of  the  work  of 
God  upon  their  souls,  whereby  they  are  united  to  Christ." 

"9.  That  a  number  of  true  believers,  being  thus  essentially  and  vis- 
ibly united  together,  have  power  to  choose  and  ordain  such  officers  as 

*  They  did  not  profess  to  be  inspired  as  grammarians. 
27* 


318  THE  GREAT  AWAKENLNG. 

Christ'has  appointed  in  his  church,  such  as  bishops,  elders  and  deacons; 
and  by  the  same  power,  to  depose  such  officers  as  evidently  appear  to 
walk  contrary  to  the  Gospel,  or  fall  into  any  heresy.  Yet  we  believe, 
in  such  cases,  it  is  convenient  to  take  advice  of  neighbouring  churches 
of  the  same  constitution. 

"12.  We  believe  that  all  the  gifts  and  graces  that  are  bestowed 
upon  any  of  the  members,  are  to  be  improved  by  them  for  the  good  of 
the  whole  ;  in  order  to  which  there  ought  to  be  such  a  gospel  freedom, 
whereby  the  church  may  know  where  every  particular  gift  is,  that  it 
may  be  improved  in  its  proper  place  and  to  its  right  end,  for  tlie  glory 
of  God  and  the  good  of  the  church. 

"  13.  That  every  brother  that  is  qualified  by  God  for  the  same,  has 
a  right  to  preach  according  to  the  measure  of  faith,  and  that  the 
essential  qualification  for  preaching  is  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of  God  ; 
and  that  the  knowledge  of  the  tongues  and  liberal  sciences  are  not 
absolutely  necessary  ;  yet  they  are  convenient,  and  will  doubtless  be 
profitable  if  rightly  used ;  but  if  brought  in  to  supply  the  want  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  they  prove  a  snare  to  those  that  use  them  and  all  that 
follow  them."  * 

In  order  to  understand  the  true  position  of  these  Separa- 
tists, in  relation  to  the  churches  and  the  ministry,  the  reader 
must  recollect  the  position  of  their  opponents.  The  practice 
of  the  "  Half-way  Covenant"  had  become  general,  and  men 
joined  the  churches  as  a  means  of  grace  ;  as  one  of  those 
performances  by  which,  while  yet  unregenerate,  they  were 
to  put  themselves  in  a  hopeful  way  for  conversion.  Against 
the  doctrine,  that  "It  is  the  will  of  God  to  have  a  pure 
church  upon  earth,  in  this  sense,  that  all  the  converted  should 
be  separated  from  the  unconverted,"  the  Windham  county 
ministers  argue  :  "  To  separate  all  true  believers  from  those 
who  are  only  nominally,  but  yet  professedly  so,  and  by  their 
outward  works  and  doctrines  not  proved  to  be  otherwise,  is 
to  set  up  two  visible  kingdoms  of  Christ  in  the  world,  and  to 
take  one  of  these  visible  kingdoms  out  of  another."  In  op- 
position to  the  doctrine,  that  all  are  to  be  admitted  to  the 
church  as  believers,  who  are  "  not  proved  to  be  otherwise," 
the  Separatists  maintained,  that  "  the  doors  of  the  church 
should  be  carefully  kept  against  such  as  cannot  give  a  satisfy- 
ing evidence  "  of  their  piety.  The  ministers  argued,  that  all 
who  make  "  an  outward,  credible  profession  of  Christianity," 
must  be  admitted  to  the  church,  because  it  is  impossible 
for  us  to  know  who  are  converted  and  who  are  not.  The 
Separatists  held,   that  the  saints  have  certain  knowledge  of 

*  See  the  articles,  entire,  in  the  Result  of  a  Council  of  the  Windham 
County  Consociation,  held  at  Scotland,  January  13,  1717.  Athena;uni 
Library. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  319 

each  others'  piety.  The  ministers  would  bring  unconverted 
men  into  the  churches,  that  the  "seals  of  the  covenant" 
might  be  the  means  of  their  conversion.  The  Separatists 
pronounced  such  use  of  the  "  seals  "  to  be  "  sacrilege."  The 
ministers  believed,  that  Christ  has  instituted  certain  rules 
concerning  an  "outward  call"  to  the  ministry,  by  observing 
which,  a  man,  whether  converted  or  not,  may  be  made  one 
of  his  true  ministers,  so  that  men  are  bound  to  receive  him 
as  such.  The  Separatists  held,  that  an  "inward  call  "  was 
indispensable,  and  was  sufficient.  They  were  the  ignorant 
and  blundering,  but  zealous  and  conscientious  advocates  of 
some  important  truths,  which  they  mixed  with  pernicious 
errors,  but  which  their  adversaries  totally  opposed.  They 
denounced  and  separated  from  the  churches,  as  made  up,  in 
part,  of  hypocrites  ;  meaning,  not  intentional  deceivers,  but 
persons  who  professed  religion  while  destitute  of  true  piety. 
The  ministers  defended  the  practice  of  admitting  such  hypo- 
crites into  the  churches,  quoting,  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  like  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures 
of  meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened."  "  The  kingdom  of 
heaven,"  they  say,  "intends  the  church  of  Christ,  with  all 
the  ministry  and  ordinances  of  his  word. —  The  leaven  is  the 
gospel  doctrine,  and  the  holy  influence  of  the  true  members 
of  Christ.  —  But  how  can  this  mass  and  meal  be  leavened  by 
it,  when  the  leaven  is  taken  away  from  it,  and  kept  at  a  dis- 
tance and  never  to  touch  it  .''  "  They  quoted,  too,  "  But  in 
a  great  house,  there  are  not  only  vessels  of  gold  and  silver, 
but  also  of  wood  and  of  earth,  some  to  honor  and  some  to 
dishonor."  The  vessels  of  wood  and  of  earth,  they  main- 
tained, are  these  hypocrites,*  who,  though  unconverted,  must 
be  admitted  into  the  church,  and  "  be  there,  among  the 
wheat  and  honorable  vessels, — that  they  may  be  under 
proper  ordinances  for  their  conversion,  and  for  the  trial  of  his 
people." 

But,  in  despite  of  all  such  reasonings,  the  zealous  declara- 
tion of  the  exhorters,  that  hypocrites  ought  not  to  be  in  the 
church,  would  strike  many  of  their  plain,  honest  hearers  with 
a  very  truth-like  sound  ;  and  though  they  might  not  know 
how  to  dispose  of  the  arguments  on  either  side,  they  would 
say,  "  It  stands  to  reason,  that  hypocrites  ought  not  to  be  in 

*  They  use  this  very  word,  in  this  very  connexion. 


320  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

the  church."  They  would  feel,  too,  that  if  religion  be  so 
great  a  matter  as  ministers  pretend  and  conscience  commands 
us  to  believe,  the  difference  between  a  saint  and  a  hypocrite 
must  be  such  that  they  can  ordinarily  be  distinguished  from 
each  other  ;  so  that  hypocrites,  as  a  general  rule,  may  be 
excluded  from  the  church.  In  these  thoughts  lay  nearly  all 
the  moral  power  of  the  Separatists.  By  the  force  of  these, 
they  maintained  themselves  against  all  the  attacks  of  their  ad- 
versaries, and  what  is  more,  against  the  influence  of  their  own 
blunders  and  bad  spirit,  till  Edwards  published  his  treatise  on 
the  "  Qualifications  for  Full  Communion."  That  treatise  took 
their  best  weapons  out  of  their  hands,  and,  by  a  judicious 
use  of  them,  accomplished  the  work  upon  which  they  were 
bringing  disgrace.  The  errors  of  both  parties  were  van- 
quished by  a  clear  statement  of  the  truth. 

On  the  question,  whether  the  saints  have  certain  knowl- 
edge of  each  others'  piety,  the  Separatists  had  a  less  advan- 
tageous position.  It  is  doubtless  true,  that  men  of  congenial 
spirits  soon  feel  their  congeniality ;  and  cases  are  not  very 
uncommon,  of  hypocrites,  who  have  lived  for  years  so  as  to 
escape  church-discipline,  but  for  whom  the  truly  pious  were 
never  able  to  work  themselves  into  a  feeling  of  brotherly  love 
and  Christian  confidence.  But  there  may  be  congeniality 
between  bad  spirits,  as  well  as  good,  and  a  man  may  very 
naturally  "  feel  his  heart  going  out  in  love  "  towards  another, 
when  both  are  deeply  tinctured  with  the  same  faults,  and 
especially  if  both  are  sinfully  bitter  against  the  same  enemies. 
This  wonderfully  sweet  "  communion  between  them  in  the 
actings  of  their  own  minds,"  when  carefully  analyzed  by  an 
accurate  observer,  with  good  specimens  before  him,  some- 
times yields  very  unexpected  ingredients,  the  most  abundant 
of  which  is  mutual  flattery.  The  flattery  is  commonly  im- 
plied, rather  than  expressed.  Each  shows  himself  wonder- 
fully pleased  with  whatever  the  other  says  or  does.  Each 
openly  considers  the  traits  of  which  the  other  is  proud,  as 
proofs  of  uncommon  piety.  Each  calls  wrath  against  the 
other's  opponents,  "holy  indignation."  In  such  ways,  with- 
out ever  expressing  their  opinions  of  each  other  directly, 
they  flatter  each  other  incessantly.  Each  sees  his  own 
image  in  the  other,  and  they  really  have  "  certain  knowledge," 
that  they  are  very  much  alike  ;  but,  unhappily,  the  traits  in 
which  they    resemble   each  other  are  no   part  of  Christian 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  321 

character,  and  therefore  their  congeniality  is  no  proof  that 
either  is  a  converted  man.  And  the  same  congeniahty  may 
be  felt  between  the  unholy  affections  of  one  who  is  sanctified 
in  part,  and  the  same  afiections  in  one  who  is  not  sanctified 
at  all,  and  may  be  the  means  of  deceiving  them  both.^ 
Among  those  who  are  thus  bound  together,  party  spirit  nat- 
urally usurps  the  name  and  place  of  brotherly  love;  hatred  of 
opponents  passes  for  zeal  for  God  ;  and  defamation  and  bitter 
railings  are  counted  Christian  boldness.  It  is  a  communion 
in  evil,  and  gives  activity  and  vigor  to  all  the  evil  in  which 
they  have  communion  with  each  other.  All  this  was  strik- 
ingly exemplified  by  these  Separatists  ;  and  they  were  the 
more  readily  led  into  it,  because  the  truth  condemned  so 
much  that  they  hated. 

The  Separatists  at  Mansfield,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  article  of  their  Confession  of  Faith,  appeal  to  their 
"  own  experience,"  as  one  of  the  grounds  of  their  religious 
belief.  On  the  same  ground,  they  professed  to  know  that 
God  approved  the  labors  of  their  exhorters.  They  asserted, 
that  they  enjoyed  more  of  the  presence  of  God  in  hearing 
them,  than  in  hearing  the  regular  clergy.  The  answer  of  the 
ministers  to  this  argument  is  candid  and  conclusive. 

«We  were,  divers  of  us,  at  the  first  appearance  of  these  things, 
considerably  at  a  loss,  and  rather  inclined  to  think  that  God  did  own 
such  mistaken  zeal,  so  far  as  to  awaken  and  quicken  many  souls  and 
do  them  good,  and  might  intend  it  as  a  means  of  humbling  to  us,  for 
our  carelessness  and  want  of  zeal  in  his  service  and  love  to  souls. 
And  though  we  know  that  God  will  never  set  aside  his  own  ordinan- 
ces, yet  as  to  ourselves,  we  hope  we  can  truly  say,  we  are  not  only 
willing  to  be  laid  aside  from  our  pulpits,  but  to  be  buried  in  our  graves, 
and  have  our  names  forgotten  upon  the  earth,  if  our  blessed  Lord  may 
be  glorified  and  souls  saved  through  that  means.  And  we  did,  several 
of  us,  set  ourselves,  with  as  much  diligence  as  we  could  consistently 
with  our  other  business,  to  examine  into  this  matter.  —  Upon  our  best 
observation,  so  far  as  we  can  remember,  when  we  have  observed  any 
pious  souls,  who  have  by  means  of  such  meetings  and  performances  in 
them  had  a  more  passionate  and  affectionate  outgoing  of  love  to  God 
and  Christ,  it  has  been  generally  attended  with  much  corrupt  mixture 
of  carnal  joy,  or  bitterness,  or  pride,  more  than  usually  attends  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  with  the  pure  institutions  of  the  gospel.  —  People 
who  are  most  zealously  affected  to  these  meetings,  —  do  indeed  often 
speak  of  wonderful  discoveries  of  the  gloriousness  of  God  and  the 
preciousness  of  Christ ;  but,  for  the  most  part,  when  they  come  to 
explain  these  discoveries,  they  give  an  account  of  some  powerful  sense 
of  Christ's  infinite  and  amazing  love  in  dying  and  bearing  hell  for 
them  in  particular ;  and  seem  to  have  been  filled  with  a  strong  and 


322  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

passionate  love  to  him  for  what  he  has  assuredly  done  for  them,  with- 
out any  acting  of  faith  in  the  veracity  of  God  in  the  gospel  offer  of 
salvation.  —  And  when  they  speak  of  the  views  of  the  terrible  justice 
and  holiness  of  God,  it  seems  too  often  to  direct  them  to  personal 
applications,  and  to  be  terminated  on  particular  objects  whom  they 
think  to  be  opposers,  and  with  vehemence  to  treat  them  as  discovered 
to  them  to  be  the  objects  of  the  divine  displeasure.  The  discoveries 
which  many  of  them  have  at  such  times,  are  of  the  certainty  that  this 
is  the  work  of  God,  and  an  assurance  that  he  will  carry  it  on  in  spite 
of  earth  and  hell." 

Thus  they  were  led  to  ascribe  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  views 
and  feelings  which  in  reality  sprung  from  their  own  revenge- 
ful tempers  ;  and  some  of  them,  whose  subsequent  lives 
evinced  their  piety,  for  a  while  behaved  worse  than  a  pious 
man,  not  awfully  deceived,  could  be  induced  to  behave. 

The  ministers  concluded  their  letter  with  excellent  advice, 
addressed  in  a  good  spirit,  to  all  classes  of  men.  One  pas- 
sage shows  that  they  had  learned  one  lesson,  which  some  of 
their  brethren  in  other  parts  of  the  colony  did  not  yet  under- 
stand. They  say  to  the  unconverted  :  "If  private  persons, 
who  are  not  obliged  by  any  oath  or  office,  keep  stirring  up 
prosecutions,  and  promoting  and  furthering  the  corporal  pun- 
ishment of  religious  disorders,  and  driving  on  coercive  mea- 
sures to  reclaim  those  that  wander  out  of  the  way  of  under- 
standing, this  is  not  only  the  most  effectual  method  to  prevent 
their  conviction,  but  is  also  like  to  be  the  occasion  of  neg- 
lecting your  own  souls,  comforting  yourselves  with  a  false 
zeal  for  God  and  his  cause,  while  you  remain  as  great  stran- 
gers to  God  as  you  were  born."  They  must  have  had  near- 
ly the  same  opinion  of  the  influence  of  prosecutions  com- 
menced by  men  in  office  ;  but  this  they  respectfully  left  to 
be  inferred. 

The  Separatists  were  neither  deterred  by  penalties,  nor 
won  by  persuasion.  On  or  about  October  9,  1745,  several 
members  of  the  church  at  Mansfield,  and  of  neighbouring 
churches,  met  and  organized  themselves  as  a  church.  None 
of  them  had  letters  of  dismission  from  the  churches  to  which 
they  belonged,  and  some  of  them  were  under  censure,  pro- 
bably for  ecclesiastical  irregularities.  They  adopted  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  from  which  extracts  have  already  been 
given.  January  15,  1746,  or  near  that  day,  they  met,  "un- 
der pretence  of  ordaining  Deacon  Thomas  Marsh  as  teach- 
ing elder."  Several  ministers  attended,  to  remonstrate  with 
them.     They  were  reviled,  and,  being  unable  to  gain  a  can- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  323 

did  hearing,  they  read  a  protest  against  their  proceedings. 
For  some  reason,  now  unknown,  the  ordination  was  deferred. 
About  a  month  afterwards,  they  met  again,  for  the  same  pur- 
pose ;  but  on  that  very  day  Deacon  Marsh  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned.  They  ordained  John  Hovey  teaching  elder ; 
Thomas  Denison,  John  Austin  and  Matthew  Smith,  laymen, 
imposing  hands  upon  him.  They  then  ordained  Matthew 
Smith  and  Thomas  Denison,  ruling  elders  ;  and  John  Aus- 
tin and  Shubael  Dimick,  deacons.  In  July,  Hovey,  Smith, 
and  Denison  ordained  Deacon  Thomas  Marsh,  teaching  el- 
der, and  the  next  day  ordained  Thomas  Stephens  to  the  same 
office  at  Plainfield.  All  these  persons  were  supposed,  by  the 
neigiibouring  ministers,  to  be  destitute  of  the  necessary  qual- 
ifications for  their  offices. 

The  members  of  the  Consociation  of  Windham  county 
assembled  as  an  ecclesiastical  council  at  Scotland,  January 
13,  1747,  and  having  made  arrangements  for  preparing  their 
business,  and  recommended  to  the  churches  to  keep  days  of 
fasting  and  prayer  in  the  interim,  adjourned  February  11. 
At  their  adjourned  meeting,  after  a  careful  inquiry  into  facts, 
they  considered  it  their  duty  to  bear  solemn,  official  testimo- 
ny against  the  errors  of  the  Separatists.  They  decided,  that 
there  was  no  good  reason  for  separating  from  the  churches  ; 
and  that  if  there  was,  the  Separatists  had  not  taken  the  regu- 
lar gospel  steps  to  reclaim  their  erring  brethren  before  sepa- 
rating from  them,  but  had  separated  in  an  uncharitable  and 
unchristian  manner.  Therefore,  they  resolved,  the  churches 
ought  to  withdraw  fellowship  from  them.  Yet  they  were  not 
to  be  given  up  as  hopeless,  but  efforts  ought  to  be  made  with 
them  as  individuals,  to  reclaim  them  from  their  errors. 

As  it  had  been  asserted  that  some  of  the  ministers  of  the 
county  held,  that  the  saints  have  certain  knowledge  of  each 
others'  piety,  that  illiterate  and  unauthorized  men  ought 
sometimes  to  preach,  and  that  outcries  and  bodily  agitations 
are  evidence  of  the  presence  and  influence  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  the  council  made  careful  inquiry,  and  found  that  not 
one  of  the  ministers  in  the  county  held  any  of  these  opinions. 
Yet,  they  admitted,  "some  of  us  have  been  too  unguarded, 
and  missed  it  in  our  conduct  in  several  things  ;  and  particu- 
larly have  erred  in  too  hastily  passing  judgment  on  persons  as 
converted."  Some  of  them  had  given  occasion  to  think 
they  were  in  favor  of  exhorters,  by  a  letter  to  Elisha  Paine, 


324  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

who,  they  hoped,  might  be  useful;  "but  have  since  found 
abundant  cause  to  aher  our  judgment,  and  lament  our  weak- 
ness, and  the  hurtful  consequences  of  it  to  the  interests  of 
Christ's  kingdom."  The  letter  appears  to  have  been  writ- 
ten when  Paine  was  in  prison,  and  thought  to  be  in  danger 
of  unusually  severe  treatment.  * 

There  were  churches  of  Separatists  in  New  London, 
Stonington,  Preston,  Norwich,  Lyme,  Canterbury,  Plain- 
field,  Windsor,  SufEeld,  and  Middletovvn.  Trumbull  says, 
that  the  whole  number  in  the  colony,  "  first  and  last,"  was 
"ten  or  twelve."  At  Preston,  Paul  Parks  was  ordained  as 
teaching  elder,  and  was  charged  not  to  premeditate  what  he 
should  say  in  his  preaching,  but  to  speak  as  the  Spirit  should 
give  him  utterance. 

The  condition  of  the  Separatists  in  Connecticut  excited  a 
lively  interest  among  some  of  the  Dissenters  in  England, 
who  appointed  a  committee  to  watch  over  their  religious  lib- 
erty. Dr.  Avery,  the  chairman,  wrote  a  letter  on  the  sub- 
ject, which  was  read  in  the  General  Assembly.  Gov.  Law, 
in  reply,  informed  Avery  of  their  errors  and  extravagances. 
Avery  replied,  that  civil  penalties  were  not  the  appropriate 
remedy,  and  could  not  cure  them.  What  influence  this  cor- 
respondence had,  is  doubtful ;  but  as  the  rigor  of  legal  pros- 
ecution was  relaxed,  their  zeal  diminished,  and  they  became 
gradually  less  irregular.  When  Edwards'  treatise  on  the 
"  Qualifications  for  Full  Communion  "  had  overthrown  the 
Half-way  Covenant,  and  the  churches  no  longer  justified  the 
admission  of  "  hypocrites,"  the  Separatists  ceased  to  be  the 
representatives  of  any  important  truth  not  held  by  the  regu- 
lar churches,  and  the  strong  reason  for  their  existence  was  at 
an  end.  By  degrees,  some  returned  to  the  communion  from 
which  they  went  out  ;  but  more  generally,  they  united  with 
the  Baptists.  In  1818,  Trumbull  believed  the  denomination 
to  be  extinct. 

It  is  the  united  testimony  of  all  witnesses,  when  speaking 
of  New  England  in  general,  that  New  London  and  Windham 
counties  were  the  principal  seat  of  the  evils  produced  by  ex- 
horters  and  separations.  What  and  how  great  they  were 
there,  the  reader  has  seen.  From  a  candid  consideration  of 
the  whole  subject,  it  appears  that  some  of  their  departures 

*  Trumbull,  and  the  result  of  the  Council,  before  quoted.    Ath.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENIi\G.  325 

from  truth,  good  order,  and  a  Christian  spirit,  were  really  as 
gross  as  they  have  been  represented  ;  but  that  they  were  be- 
trayed into  some  of  their  errors,  by  their  opposition  to  other 
errors,  scarcely  less  pernicious,  generally  prevalent  around 
them,  and  obstinately  defended  by  the  regular  churches.  It 
appears,  too,  that  the  prevalence  of  Separatism  and  its  con- 
comitant errors  and  evils  was  far  less  extensive  than  it  has 
usually  been  represented  ;  that  the  amount  of  evil  fairly 
chargeable  to  this  source  in  the  whole  country,  has  been 
greatly  overestimated,  while  the  good  which  it  aided  to  ac- 
complish, has  not  been  acknowledged.  It  must  be  admitted, 
too,  that  these  disorders  arose,  in  part,  from  the  early  errors 
of  some  of  the  most  prominent  promoters  of  the  revival. 
This  is  unanswerably  proved  by  their  own  confessions,  made 
when  the  experience  of  three  or  four  years  had  taught  them 
wisdom.  But  it  is  equally  certain,  that  a  vast  majority  of 
the  friends  of  the  revival,  both  clergy  and  laymen,  were,  from 
the  beginning,  their  steady  and  intelligent  opposers  ;  and 
nothing  can  be  more  unjust  than  charging  upon  them,  as  a 
body,  the  peculiar  errors  of  the  Separatists. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


The  Controversy   in   Massachusetts.  —  Whitefield's  Second  Visit  to 
New  England. —  His  subsequent  Labors  and  his  Death. 

Some  of  the  leading  features  of  the  controversy  as  it 
existed  in  Massachusetts,  have  already  been  exhibited  ;  espe- 
cially in  the  account  of  the  Testimonies,  Chapter  XVI.  To 
give  a  minute  history  of  all,  even  of  what  still  remains  in 
print,  would  be  both  tiresome  and  useless.  Only  some  of 
the  more  important  publications  can  be  noticed,  with  such 
specimens  of  the  remainder  as  may  afford  a  fair  sample  of 
the  whole.  The  giants  in  this  controversy,  beyond  all  dis- 
pute,  were  Edwards  and  Chauncy.  These  men  seem  well 
to  have  understood  their  relation  to  each  other  and  to  the 
contest.  Chauncy  sometimes  appeared  as  the  avowed  antag- 
onist of  Edwards  ;  and  though  Edwards  seldom,  if  ever, 
mentions  either  Chauncy  or  his  publications,  it  is  perfectly 
28 


326  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

obvious  to  any  one  who  reads  them  both,  that  he  often  had 
him  distinctly  in  view,  and  wrote  to  oppose  his  influence. 

Chauncy's  first  serious  attack  was  the  publication  of  "  The 
Wonderful  Narrative  :  or,  a  Faithful  Account  of  the  French 
Prophets,  their  Agitations,  Ecstasies,  and  Inspirations.  To 
which  are  added,  several  other  remarkable  instances  of  Per- 
sons under  the  influence  of  the  like  Spirit  in  various  Parts  of 
the  World,  particularly  in  New  England  :  With  an  Introduc- 
tion, directing  to  the  proper  Use  of  such  Extraordinary  Ap- 
pearances in  the  course  of  Providence."  The  French 
prophets  first  appeared  about  the  year  1700.  For  more  than 
a  century,  persecution,  sometimes  resisted,  with  various  suc- 
cess, by  civil  war,  and  sometimes  endured  with  patient  sub- 
mission ;  royal  promises,  made  in  guile  and  broken  in  perfi- 
dy ;  unexpected  massacres  in  times  of  peace  ;  arrests,  im- 
prisonments, executions  on  the  gibbet,  on  the  wheel,  or  at  the 
stake,  had  composed  the  external  history  of  French  Protes- 
tantism. Now,  for  the  last  time,  a  few  thousands  of  them, 
in  the  almost  inaccessible  fastnesses  of  the  Cevennes,  rose  in 
arms  against  their  oppressors.  The  vi'ar  raged  for  years. 
Often,  in  battle,  quarter  was  neither  given  nor  accepted  by 
either  party.  At  the  beginning  of  the  winter  of  1703,  Mon- 
trevel,  the  royalist  general,  ordered  a  country  forty  leagues 
in  extent,  to  be  laid  waste,  and  the  cottages  to  be  torn  down 
or  burned.  A  famine  followed,  and  meanwhile  the  gallows 
was  always  kept  standing,  and  the  hangman  within  call.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  believe  that,  as  has  been  asserted,  some 
of  the  Huguenots  were  trained  to  imposture.  They  firmly 
believed  that  they  were  the  Lord's  people  ;  and  they  had 
good  reason  to  regard  their  persecutors  as  his  enemies. 
They  could  not  doubt  that  God  would  sustain  his  own  cause  ; 
and  when  it  became  evident,  that  nothing  but  miracles  could 
save  them,  they  expected  miracles.  Want  of  food  and  sleep 
and  rest,  disordered  their  bodies,  and  therefore  intense 
thought,  violent  emotion,  heroic  hopes,  and  the  sight  and  suf- 
fering of  horrible  wickedness  more  easily  overpowered  their 
imaginations.  Some  thought  themselves  inspired.  They 
were  seized  with  tremblings  and  convulsions.  They  spake, 
as  was  supposed,  with  other  tongues  than  their  vernacular. 
They  professed  to  deliver  messages  from  God,  and  to  pre- 
dict future  events  ;  and  if  a  desperate  attack  on  their  ene- 
mies was  made  at  their  suggestion  and  proved  successful,  the 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  327 

event  was  received  as  evidence  of  their  divine  commission. 
The  insurrection  was  brought  to  an  end,  partly  by  negotiation 
and  partly  by  force.  In  1706,  three  of  the  prophets,  who 
are  said  to  have  had  but  little  reputation  among  their  own 
people,  took  refuge  in  England,  where  others  appear  to  have 
joined  them  soon  afterwards.  Though  their  prophetical 
character  was  not  acknowledged  by  the  French  Protestants 
already  settled  in  London,  they  succeeded  in  gaining  follow- 
ers, even  among  the  tilled  nobility,  and  what  is  more,  among 
men  of  some  education  ;  but  after  a  few  years,  their  attempts 
at  working  miracles,  and  especially  the  failure  of  their  pre- 
dictions, that  certain  of  their  company  would  rise  from  the 
dead,  destroyed  their  credit.  They  seem  at  last  to  have 
lost  all  self-respect ;  to  have  acquired  the  art  of  bringing  on 
at  will  those  mental  and  bodily  paroxysms  which  had  been 
mistaken  for  illapses  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  to  have  exhib- 
ited their  prophetic  gifts  for  gain.  Chauncy's  object  was, 
to  bring  discredit  upon  the  revival,  on  account  of  the  invol- 
untary outcries,  faintings  and  convulsions  that  attended  it, 
by  showing  that  these  were  signs,  not  of  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  but  of  enthusiasm  or  imposture,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  French  prophets.  The  work  was  regarded  by  the 
friends  of  the  revival  as  a  powerful  and  mischievous  book. 
It  was  republished  in  Scotland. 

The  first  publication  of  Edwards  on  this  subject,  was  his 
sermon  on  "The  Distinguishing  Marks  of  a  Work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  ;  applied  to  that  uncommon  Operation  which 
has  lately  appeared  on  the  Minds  of  many  of  the  People  of 
this  Land."  It  was  preached  at  New  Haven,  September 
10,  1741,  and  soon  published,  with  a  preface  by  Mr.  Coop- 
er, of  Boston,  and  republished  in  England  and  Scotland.  In 
this  sermon  he  argued,  first,  negatively,  that  neither  the  work 
being  carried  on  in  a  very  unusual  and  extraordinary  way,  nor 
its  being  accompanied  with  effects  on  the  bodies  of  men,  nor 
its  occasioning  a  great  ado  and  much  noise  about  religion, 
nor  impressions  on  the  imaginations  of  many  of  its  subjects, 
nor  the  influence  of  example  in  carrying  it  on,  nor  the  fact 
that  many  who  seem  to  be  its  subjects  are  guilty  of  great  im- 
prudences and  irregularities,  nor  the  delusions  of  Satan  that 
accompany  the  work,  nor  the  falling  away  of  some  into  gross 
errors  and  scandalous  practices,  nor  the  fact  that  the  earnest 
preaching  of  the  terrors  of  the  law  is  a  means  of  carrying  it 


328  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

on,  is  any  proof  that  the  work  is  not  of  God  ;  and  secondly, 
he  set  forth  the  positive  marks  by  which  a  real  work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  may  be  distinguished  from  all  counterfeits. 

An  answer  to  this  sermon  and  its  preface,  by  one  who 
styled  himself  "  A  Lover  of  Truth  and  Peace,"  and  who,  if 
not  Dr.  Chauncy,  thought  and  wrote  very  much  in  his  style, 
was  published  at  Boston.  Of  the  positive  marks  of  a  genu- 
ine work  of  God,  which  Edwards  had  laid  down,  he  says  : 
"I  acknowledge,  that  the  rules  and  marks  he  mentions  are 
good  ;  but  cannot  join  with  him  in  explaining  those  rules, 
and  applying  them  as  he  does."  He  might  have  made  the 
same  remark  on  the  whole  sermon ;  for  he  nowhere  dis- 
putes the  truth  of  a  single  principle  for  which  Edwards 
contends,  but  spends  his  whole  force  in  discussing  their  ap- 
plication to  "the  late  religious  commotions."  Nor  is  there 
much,  if  any,  express  contradiction  between  them  in  respect 
to  facts.  Edwards  fixes  his  attention  mainly  on  the  good 
which  those  commotions  v/ere  accomplishing,  makes  that 
prominent  in  the  discussion,  and  thence  infers  that  the  work 
was,  "  in  the  general,"  from  the  Spirit  of  God.  His  antag- 
onist does  not  deny  that  many  souls  had  been  savingly  renew- 
ed ;  but  in  his  picture,  the  evil  is  always  made  prominent,  and 
therefore  the  work  "in  the  general"  is  condemned.  And 
such  was  the  prevailing  style  of  the  controversy. 

In  1742,  Edwards  published  his  "  Thoughts  on  the  Revi- 
val of  Religion  in  New  England,"  which  was  the  great  work 
on  that  side  of  the  controversy.  The  next  year,  Chauncy 
published  his  "  Seasonable  Thoughts  on  the  State  of  Reli- 
gion in  New  England,'  which  was  the  principal  work  on  that 
side.  These  works  are  much  like  their  predecessors,  though 
on  a  larger  scale.  Edwards  admits  and  censures  the  evils 
that  prevailed,  but  dwells  upon  the  good  that  had  been  ac- 
complished, concludes  the  work  to  be  from  the  Spirit  of 
God,  and  encourages  solicitude  for  its  continuance.  Chaun- 
cy admits  that  good  had  been  done,  but  represents  the  evil 
as  predominant,  and  wishes  the  "commotion"  at  an  end. 
Neither  of  them,  however,  gives  any  definite  estimate  of  the 
amount  either  of  the  good  or  the  evil  that  had  been  done  ; 
so  that,  even  on  that  point,  there  is  no  explicit  contradiction 
between  them.  Nor  is  there  any  very  important  difference 
in  the  rules  by  which  they  would  judge  of  the  genuineness  of 
a  revival.     The  real  parting  point  between  them  was  never 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  329 

made  the  subject  of  discussion,  and  perhaps  was  not  distinctly 
seen  by  either.  Chauncy  was  shocked  at  the  "  censorious- 
ness  "  of  the  revivahsts.  In  his  view,  every  man  ought  to 
he  regarded  and  treated  as  a  true  Christian,  as  a  really  pious 
man  and  an  heir  of  heaven,  who  did  not  prove  the  contrary 
by  embracing  some  "damnable  heresy,"  or  by  committing 
some  scandalous  immorality,  even  though  no  positive  evi- 
dence of  his  piety  could  be  found.  He  demanded  for  all 
such  persons,  a  regular  and  unimpeached  standing  in  the 
churches,  and  if  regularly  ordained,  in  the  ministry  also  \  for 
perhaps  they  were  already  regenerate,  and  if  not,  they  were 
in  the  way  of  their  duty,  and  might  reasonably  hope  to  be 
regenerated  before  leaving  the  world.  The  revivalists  saw 
that  these  views  were  deceiving  and  ruining  many  souls. 
They  preached  to  such  persons,  as  under  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  in  the  straight  road  to  eternal  perdition.  This,  in 
Chauncy's  view,  was  shocking  censoriousness.  He  could 
have  no  patience  with  it ;  for,  as  he  thought,  it  disturbed  the 
quiet  of  good  men,  or  of  those  who  were  in  a  fair  way  to 
become  good  ;  it  tended  to  excite  the  wrath  of  those  who 
were  thus  denounced,  and  to  fill  families  and  communities 
with  discord  ;  it  divided  churches  and  parishes  into  parties, 
and  destroyed  the  comfort  and  endangered  the  salaries  of 
ministers.  When  Davenport  condemned  ministers  by  name 
as  unconverted,  and  advised  their  people  to  separate  from 
them,  and  some  followed  his  advice,  he  saw  in  it  only  the 
carrying  out  of  the  principles  of  all  the  revivalists.  He 
thought  it  the  duty  of  all  men  to  resist  such  a  system,  and  do 
their  utmost  to  make  all  things  quiet  again.  Edwards,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  not  yet  emancipated  himself  from  the  "  half- 
way covenant"  views  in  which  he  had  been  educated,  and 
therefore  was  not  yet  furnished  with  the  ideas  which  he  need- 
ed, to  meet  this  point  as  it  ought  to  have  been  met.  He 
correctly  acknowledged  censoriousness  to  be  a  great  sin, 
which  had  been  awfully  prevalent ;  but  he  did  not  show,  as 
was  desirable,  that  much  which  had  been  condemned  as  cen- 
soriousness, deserved  a  better  name.  He  contented  himself 
with  showing  that,  notwithstanding  this  evil,  the  work  might 
be,  and  certainly  was,  of  God,  and  that  men  ought  to  labor 
for  its  promotion,  notwithstanding  the  imperfections  and  inci- 
dental evils  with  which  it  was  attended. 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  treatise,  Edwards  recommends, 
28* 


330  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

as  a  means  of  promoting  the  revival,  "that  a  history  should 
be  published  once  a  month,  or  once  a  fortnight,  of  the  pro- 
gress of  it,  by  one  of  the  ministers  of  Boston,  who  are  near 
the  press,  and  are  most  conveniently  situated  to  receive  ac- 
counts of  it  from  all  parts."  Agreeably  to  this  suggestion, 
the  "  Christian  History "  was  established  the  next  year. 
Similar  publications  were  commenced  about  the  same  time 
in  London  and  Glasgow. 

Some  of  the  minor  controversies  of  the  day  show  more 
precisely  the  form  which  some  of  these  subjects  took  in  many 
minds. 

The  Rev.  Theophilus  Pickering,  pastor  of  the  Second 
Church  in  Ipswich,  wrote,  February  3,  1742,  to  the  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Rogers,  Junior  Pastor  of  the  First  Church,  and 
Mr.  Daniel  Rogers,  who  was  then  preparing  for  the  min- 
istry :  *  — 

"  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand  the  distinction  betwixt  the  ordinary 
and  usual  work  of  God  in  the  conversion  of  sinners,  and  that  work 
wherein  you  are  engaged,  which  you  emphatically  call  'This  Work  — 
This  Work  of  God.'  And  inasmuch  as  you  have  been  mindful  in 
your  public  prayers  to  beg  of  God  that  he  would  convince  and  stir  up 
such  ministers  as  are  backward  to  that  which  you  call  'This  Work,' 
and  have  also,  by  expressions  dropped  in  private  conversation,  led  me 
into  a  belief  that  it  would  bo  very  agreeable  to  you  to  see  me  disposed 
to  encourage  'This  Work,'  as  you  call  it;  inasmuch  as  a  good 
agreement  among  ministers  is  of  great  consequence  to  religion,  and 
my  coming  into  your  sentiments  and  measures  may  as  well  happily 
tend  to  the  advantage  of  my  ministry  in  general,  (if  you  are  in  the 
right,)  as  be  well  pleasing  to  some  of  my  parishioners,  who  zealously 
aflect  you  and  are  at  the  pains  to  ply  me  with  their  importunate  solici- 
tions:  —  Therefore  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God, 
that  you  would  endeavour  to  resolve  my  doubts  Avith  respect  to  '  This 
Work '  that  you  contend  for,  — 

"  1.  By  declaring  what  it  is,  and  wherein  it  differs  from  the  convert- 
ing work  of  God  that  was  carried  on  in  New  England  from  the  days 
of  our  fathers. 

*  A  communication  in  the  Boston  Evening  Post  of  November  22, 1742, 
begins  thus  :  "  We  lately  lieard  from  York,  that  on  or  about  the  13th  of  July 
last,  one  Mr.  D — 1  R — s  summoned  together  a  solemn  (and  we  think  an 
unlawful)  assembl}',  consisting  of  llie  ciders  and  pretended  messengers  of 
some  of  the  neighbouring  churches,  to  ordain  the  said  R — s  at  large,  to  be  a 
vagrant  preacher  to  the  people  of  God  in  tiiis  land  :  contrary  to  the  peace  of 
our  Lord  the  King  and  Head  of  liis  cliurcli,  and  to  the  good  order  and  con- 
stitution of  the  churciies  in  New  England,  as  established  by  the  Platform. 
—  In  whicli  transaction,  we  hear  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  M — y,  W — se,  J. 
R — s  and  G — m  resolutely  proceeded,  although  some  others  of  the  neigh- 
bouring ministers  justly  bore  their  testimony  against  such  an  irregular 
action.  '  —  The  Cambridge  Platform  allows  no  ordination,  except  as  elder 
of  some  church. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  331 

"2.  By  showing,  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  that  those  things  (if 
such  there  be)  in  which  it  differs,  are  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  unexceptionable  grounds  for  your  terms  of  distinction." 

The  Messrs.  Rogers  answered,  February  5  : 

"  By  the  work  we  hope  our  hearts  are  engaged  in,  which,  as  you 
may  have  observed,  we  call '  This  Work  —  This  Work  of  God,'  we 
mean  God's  work  of  convicting  and  converting  sinners ;  and  we  do 
not  mean  to  distinguish  it  from  the  convincing  and  converting  work  of 
God,  carried  on  in  New  England  in  the  days  of  our  fathers,  or  any- 
where else  in  any  age  of  the  Christian  church  ;  for  we  suppose  God's 
work  in  convincing  and  converting  sinners  to  be  ever  the  same,  as  to 
the  substantial  parts  of  it.  Nevertheless,  as  this  is  a  work  distinct 
from  all  the  other  works  of  God,  it  may  surely  be  spoken  of  with  vari- 
ous marks  of  distinction." 

They  then  expressed  their  belief  that  this  work  had  for 
some  time  been  carried  on  with  unusual  power,  and  their 
desire  that  all  ministers  would  cooperate  in  promoting  it. 
This  was  not  satisfactory.  Pickering  wrote  again,  Februa- 
ry 15,  and  endeavoured  to  extort  a  confession,  that  by 
"  This  Work,"  they  meant  more  than  they  were  willing  to 
confess,  and  that  it  included  "  some  effects  attendant,  as  visi- 
ble signs  or  open  discoveries "  of  the  Spirit's  operations. 
Receiving  no  answer,  he  wrote  again,  July  16,  in  the  same 
strain.  "  That  which  I  want  to  know,"  be  says,  "  is.  What 
and  how  much  you  take  into  that  which  you  call  '  This 
Work  of  God,'  as  grounds  of  distinction  ;  and  upon  what  au- 
thority you  receive  it.  If  there  be  a  different  manner  of  op- 
eration, or  new  evidences,  —  that  have  not  been  usual  in  the 
conversion  of  sinners  in  later  times,  —  I  pray  you  to  enume- 
rate and  ascertain  them  ; — to  show  me  what  Scripture  war- 
rant you  have  to  expect  such  things  in  the  present  age  of 
the  church  ;  and  evince,  by  the  word  of  truth,  that  those 
things  are  to  be  believed  to  be  the  work  of  God."  He 
wished  to  get  an  acknowledgment,  that  the  faintings,  outcries, 
and  other  disorders  were  a  part  of  the  work  itself,  and  not 
mere  accidental  attendants  on  it ;  for  he  could  then  prove 
that  a  part  of  the  work  was  bad,  and  therefore  not  from  God. 
He  wrote  again,  August  IS  ;  but  he  received  no  answer,  ex- 
cept that  to  his  first  letter.* 

The  same  question  was  brought  up  in  Turell's  "  Dialogue 
on  the  Times." 

"  JVeighbour.  Sir,  the  grand  question  I  want  to  be  resolved  in  is, 
What  is  the  Work  of  God  .' 

*  See  the  Correspondence,  in  the  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


332  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

"  Minister.  There  are  many  things  which  rnay  be  called  the  work 
of  God,  and  are  really  so  ;  as  the  work  of  creation,  providence,  re- 
demption in  general ;  and  some  eminent  acts  of  mercy  and  judgment 
have  had  that  name  given  them  in  particular ;  and  our  faith  and  obe- 
dience are  styled  so  in  the  gospel.  But  that  which  is  now  called  the 
work  of  God  in  the  land,  and  appears  so  to  me,  is  'The  work  of  his 
grace,  wrought  on  the  hearts  of  many  by  his  word  and  Spirit.'  It  is 
past  a  doubt  with  me,  that  the  blessed  Spirit  has  been  sent  down  to 
convict,  convince  and  convert  sinners,  and  to  quicken,  enliven  and 
comfort  the  saints ;  and  a  conspicuous  reformation  is  wrought  in  some 
places. 

"  JV.  But  do  you  mean  neither  more  nor  less.  Sir,  by  the  work  of 
God  among  us,  or  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  than  this  work  of  grace, 
in  conviction,  conversion, light,  and  comfort? 

"  M.  I  am  persuaded  it  is  safest  and  best  to  fix  upon  this  only, 
as  the  present  work  of  God  in  the  land,  and  not  to  place  it  in  uncer- 
tain appearances.  I  have  good  reason  to  think,  (having  had  opportu- 
nity to  converse  with  all  sorts  of  persons,)  that  if  ministers  and  Christians 
had  thus  fixed  it,  there  would  not  have  been  that  seeming  opposition 
to  it  from  good  men ;  and  that  we  should  also  have  cut  oflT  occasion 
from  those  who  are  enemies  to  serious  godliness,  to  scoff  at  it."* 

He  then  goes  on  to  show,  that  neither  outcries,  faintings, 
dreams,  trances,  visions,  revelations  or  impulses  are  any  part 
of  "  The  Work,"  and  that  some  of  them  are  of  very  danger- 
ous tendency.  Tliis  Dialogue  was  published  in  the  sum- 
mer or  autumn  of.  1742.  The  revival  had  been  powerful  at 
Medford,  where  he  was  pastor,  and  some  of  the  first  outcries 
in  that  region  were  among  his  own  people,  and  under  his 
own  preaching.  He  believed  that  "  some  scores  had  been 
savingly  wrought  upon."  In  the  preface  to  his  "  Directions 
to  his  People,"  published  early  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  he 
declares,  "  that  of  the  many  I  have  conversed  with  under  the 
common  impressions,  two  or  three  excepted,  they  have  been 
all  wrought  upon  in  a  way  agreeable  to  the  gospel,  and  just  as 
I  should  have  desired  seven  years  ago."  The  "  Direc- 
tions "  are  in  the  same  spirit  with  the  "  Dialogue  on  the 
Times,"  and  were  published,  he  tells  us,  partly  to  vindicate 
his  character,  which  had  been  injured  by  a  report  that,  from 
being  a  zealous  promoter  of  the  glorious  work  of  God's  grace, 
he  had  become  an  opposer ;  and  partly,  tiiat  the  opposers  and 
enemies  of  the  work  might  no  longer  say  that  its  friends 
swallowed  down  every  thing,  and  attributed  all  appearances 
and  imprudent  management  to  the  God  and  Spirit  of  order. 

The  reader  will  now  understand  why  Dr.  Colman,  in 
1744,   was   so  scrupulous   about  the  phraseology  of  Daven- 

•  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  333 

port's  "  Retractations."  Davenport  at  first  wrote  : —  "I  am 
now  fully  convinced  and  persuaded,  that  several  appendages 
to  this  glorious  work  are  no  essential  parts  thereof,  but  of  a 
different  and  contrary  nature  and  tendency  ;  which  appenda- 
ges I  have  been,  in  the  time  of  the  work,  very  industrious  in 
and  instrumental  of  promoting,  by  a  misguided  zeal."  At 
Dr.  Colman's  suggestion,  that  this  might  be  misunderstood, 
he  amended  it,  so  as  to  read  : — "  Several  things,  which  in 
the  time  of  the  work  I  was  very  industrious  and  instrumental 
in  promoting  by  a  misguided  zeal,  were  no  parts  of  it,  but  of 
a  contrary  nature  and  tendency."  So  careful  were  the  lead- 
ing promoters  of  the  revival  to  have  this  matter  understood. 
And  with  its  friends,  they  were  successful.  "  These  extra- 
ordinaries  "  soon  came  to  be  regarded  by  all,  as  they  had 
ever  been  by  most,  as  "  no  parts  "  of  the  work,  and  they 
have  long  since  ceased  to  appear  in  our  congregations. 
With  its  opposers,  they  labored  in  vain.  The  argument  for 
which  Pickering  made  such  persevering  efforts  to  secure  a 
foundation,  was  too  convenient  to  be  spared  ;  the  language 
of  some  exhorters  and  a  very  few  ministers  afforded  some 
pretext  for  using  it;  the  party  clung  to  it  pertinaciously,  and 
handed  it  down  to  their  successors  ;  and  to  this  day,  many 
Unitarians,  Universalists  and  infidels  suppose  that  such  things 
are  really  "  parts  "  of  a  revival. 

How  much  excuse  the  conduct  of  some  zealous  revivalists 
furnished  for  such  a  conclusion,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain, 
and  difficult  even  to  conjecture.  Complaints  in  general 
terms,  of  horrible  disorders  all  over  the  land,  are  abundant  ; 
but  it  is  seldom  possible  to  ascertain  exactly  what  they  were, 
or  where  they  happened  ;  and  the  proof  of  their  existence  is 
seldom  any  thing  more  than  the  assertion,  that  "  they  are  no- 
torious." All  the  "  censorious,"  that  is,  all  who  required 
positive  evidence  of  piety  before  admitting  its  existence, 
were  counted  as  promoters  of  all  disorders.  Numerous 
friends  of  the  revival,  who  were  well  acquainted  with  the 
facts,  and  whose  testimony  is  unimpeachable,  complained  in 
express  terms,  "  that  disorders  and  errors  had  been  both 
multiplied  and  magnified  by  unfriendly  reporters  ;  "  and  a 
careful  examination  of  the  documents  of  the  day  will  convince 
any  candid  man,  that  they  had  reason  to  complain.  Yet  it  is 
certain,  that  there  were  great  errors  and  disorders,  and  that 
some  persons,  and  even  some  ministers,  condemned  all  who 


334  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

endeavoured  to  repress  them,  as  opposers  of  the  revival. 
Croswell*  pronounced  "  the  excellent  Mr.  Turell  "  an  oppos- 
er,  and  thought  his  "•  Directions  "  to  be  "  more  infectious  and 
poisonous  than  '  The  French  Prophets,'  or  the  '  Trial  of 
Mr.  Whitefield's  Spirit.'"  Croswell  may  have  been  pro- 
voked to  this,  in  part,  by  what  he  esteemed  a  personal  attack. 
Turell  had  cautioned  his  people  against  certain  itinerants, 
whom  Croswell  supposed  to  be  Mr.  Buel  and  himself.  It  is 
certain,  too,  that  real  opposers  were  sometimes  exceedingly 
artful,  and  did  the  work  of  opposition  so  adroitly,  that  it 
was  difficult  to  fasten  the  charge  upon  them.  One  notice- 
able instance  deserves  to  be  recorded. 

The  Rev.  Jonathan  Ashley,  of  Deerfield,  being  in  Boston, 
Mr.  Cooper,  out  of  courtesy,  and  not  because  he  needed 
assistance,  invited  him  to  preach  at  Brattle  Street  on  the 
Sabbath,  November  28,  1742.  Mr.  Ashley's  text  was, 
Paul's  commendation  of  charity,  1  Corinthians  13:  I  —  3. 
He  compared  the  state  of  the  churches  in  New  England  to 
that  of  the  church  in  Corinth,  where  there  had  been  "  a  very 
plentiful  effusion  of  the  Divine  Spirit."  He  mentioned 
many  particulars  in  which  the  two  cases  resembled  each 
other,  the  same  faults  prevailing  in  both.  He  set  forth  the 
excellence  of  charity,  and  proved  that  without  it,  all  signs  of 
piety  on  which  men  are  disposed  to  rely,  are  deceptive. 
Considered  in  itself,  the  sermon  was  a  good  one.  The  faults 
against  which  he  inveighed,  were  actually  in  the  land  ;  and  he 
carefully  guarded  himself  against  the  danger  of  contradiction, 
by  not  stating  definitely  how  extensively  they  prevailed.  It 
was  a  carefully  guarded  statement  of  some  of  the  principal 
truths  on  which  the  opposers  of  the  revival  relied  for  the  sup- 
port of  their  cause,  without  any  mixture  of  their  usual  misrep- 
resentations. But  the  great  practical  question  between  the 
two  parties  then  was,  whether  efforts  ought  to  be  made  for 
the  continuance  of  the  revival,  or  for  the  restoration  of  uni- 
versal quiet ;  and  the  general  tendency  of  the  sermon  was,  to 
leave  an  impression  in  favor  of  the  latter.  Everybody  un- 
derstood the  preacher's  aim.  A  few  expressed  their  disap- 
probation by  leaving  the  house.  The  opposers  of  the  revi- 
val felt  that  they  had  gained  a  triumph,  by  having  such  a  ser- 
mon preached  in  that  place  ;  and,  to  make  their  triumph  com- 

*  Letter  to  Turell,  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  335 

plete,  the  sermon  must  be  published,  "  at  the  request  of 
many  of  the  hearers."  This  would  make  the  impression  far 
and  wide,  that  Mr.  Cooper  and  the  church  at  Brattle  Street 
had  changed  their  minds,  and  instead  of  wishing  still  to  pro- 
mote the  revival,  were  now  wishing  to  put  down  all  excite- 
ment. A  copy  was  requested  for  the  press.  Cooper  saw 
the  bearing  of  these  things,  and  wrote  to  Ashley,  remonstrat- 
ing against  the  unkind  and  unfair  advantage  taken  of  his  min- 
isterial courtesy,  and  urging  him  to  withhold  his  sermon  from 
the  press.  Ashley,  however,  furnished  a  copy,  and  it  was 
published  ;  and  Cooper  must  submit  to  the  virtual  misrepre- 
sentation of  his  sentiments,  or  expose  himself  to  ridicule.  He 
was  not  the  man  to  hesitate  in  such  a  case.  Though  fully 
aware,  as  he  said,  of  the  sneers  he  should  encounter,  he  im- 
mediately informed  the  public,  through  the  Boston  Gazette, 
of  the  whole  affair,  and  stated  his  objections  against  the  pub- 
lication of  the  sermon.  This,  as  he  had  foretold,  brought 
upon  him  a  shower  of  newspaper  wit  and  sarcasm,  and  among 
other  things,  a  taunting  letter  from  Ashley  himself.  He  was 
ridiculed  for  thinking  a  correct  knowledge  of  his  opinions  so 
important  to  the  public,  and  for  setting  himself  up  as  a  censor 
of  the  press,  and  as  a  man  whom  ministers  must  consult,  be- 
fore publishing  their  sermons.  Such  was  the  position  in 
which  the  opposing  party  had  placed  him,  without  violating 
the  letter  of  any  of  the  laws  of  courtesy.  They  had  only 
exercised  their  undoubted  rights.  They  had  done  like  a 
merchant  who  gets  another  man's  property  so  adroitly,  that 
the  law  can  take  no  hold  of  him.  —  There  is  some  doubt 
how  far  Ashley  was  to  blame  in  this  affair.  One  of  his  letters, 
probably  that  to  Cooper,  afterwards  published,  was  carried 
to  the  Boston  Gazette  for  insertion,  by  Eliot,  the  publisher 
of  the  sermon.  The  editor  of  the  Gazette  refused  to  insert 
it,  said  that  it  had  been  altered,  and  offered  Eliot  ten  pounds 
for  a  sight  of  the  original.  Eliot  said  that  the  original  was 
not  then  in  his  possession,  and  refused  to  produce  it.* 

But,  after  all  allowances  for  mistake  and  misrepresentation, 
testimony  remains  definite  and  conclusive,  of  sad  disorders. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  was  at  Ipswich,  in 
1744.     A    particular    account    of  it,    signed    by   the  Rev. 

*  The  Sermon  is  in  the  O.  S.  Cb.  Lib.;  and  all  the  pamphlets  in  the 
Athenasum  Lib.  See  also,  Boston  Gazette  for  December  1742,  and  Janu- 
ary 1743,  in  the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Lib. 


336  THE  GREAT  AWAKENLNG. 

Messrs.  Joseph  While,  Samuel  Wigglesworth,  John  Webb, 
John  Chipman,    Joshua    Gee,    Joseph    Emerson,    Wilham 
Hobby,  John  Warren,  Jedediah  Jevvett,  Simon  Bradstreet, 
and  James  Chandler,  most  of  whom  were  well  known  friends 
of  the  revival,  and  who  visited   Ipswich  on  purpose  to  inves- 
tigate the  affair,  was  published  in  the  Boston  Gazette  of  July 
24,  and  copied  into  the  Evening  Post  of  July  30.     It  ap- 
pears from  their  statement,  that  one  Richard  Woodbury,  of 
Rowley,  who  had  taken  it  upon  himself  to  travel  as  an  ex- 
horter,  had  in  the  spring  sent  letters  of  reprehension  and  ex- 
hortation, "in  a  style  presumptuous,  if  not  blasphemous,"  to 
many  ministers  in  the  vicinity.     The  Rev.  Nicholas  Gilman 
assisted  him  in  preparing  these  letters,  and  about  the  first  of 
June,  with  the  assistance  of  "several  laics,"  privately  or- 
dained him  as  an  evangelist.     After  his  ordination,  he  went 
with  Gilman  to  visit  several  of  the  ministers  to  whom  the 
letters  had  been  addressed,  and  came  to  Ipswich  about  the 
first  of  July.     Here  his  language  was  blasphemous  and  pro- 
fane, and  his  public  and  private  conduct,  ridiculous  and  ab- 
surd.    He  professed  to  come  as  a  special  messenger  from 
God,  authorized  not  only  to  teach,  but  to  pronounce  tempo- 
ral curses  on  the  rebellious.     He  told  one  who  doubted  his 
mission,  that  he  should  be  convinced  before  they  met  again  ; 
and  told  another,  that  he  should  be  dead  and  in  hell  in  an 
hour  or  two.     On  one  occasion,  having  asserted  his  power  to 
bless  and  curse  eternally  whom  he  pleased,  he  said  he  was 
poor,  and  those  present  must  give  for  the  support  of  the  gos- 
pel, or  their  money  should  burn  with  them  in  hell.     He  pre- 
tended to   cast  out   devils   and    work    other    miracles ;    and 
sometimes  he  drank  healths  to  "King  Jesus,"  and  to  "the 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords."     Woodbury  received  no 
countenance  from  any  minister  except  Gilman,  and  one  or 
two  others,  who  are  not  named.     The  venerable  senior  pas- 
tor of  the  First  Church  in  Ipswich,  the  Rev.  John  Rogers, 
testified,  that  notwithstanding  the  disturbance  thus  occasioned 
for  a  time,  the  good  work  of  grace  was  still  going  on  among 
his  people. 

A  communication  which  immediately  follows  this  state- 
ment in  the  Evening  Post,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
pieces  of  impudence  extant.  The  writer  says,  he  is  glad 
that  these  "Rev.  gentlemen  have  their  eyes  so  far  opened  at 
last,  as  to  declare  publicly  against  such  detestable  things  ;" 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  337 

and  adds,  "  It  were  to  be  wished  that  they,  and  others  of 
their  brethren,  had  been  earlier  in  their  opposition."  The 
eyes  of  these  gentlemen  had  never  needed  opening  to  the 
detestable  nature  of  such  things.  They  had  publicly  declar- 
ed against  every  thing  of  the  kind,  in  the  solemn  "  Testimo- 
ny "  of  July  7,  1743.  Some  of  them  had  declared  publicly 
against  Davenport  and  his  disorders.  As  for  "  others  of 
their  brethren,"  Tennent  had  warned  the  churches  against 
enthusiasm  as  early  as  1741  ;  Parsons  had  published  his 
"  Needful  Caution  "  early  in  1742  ;  and  many  others  had 
fully  declared  their  disapprobation  of  all  "such  detestable 
things"  in  many  ways,  besides  their  united  "  Testimony  "  in 
1743.  All  these  things  were  quite  as  "  public"  as  any  dis- 
orders had  been  ;  and  yet  the  writer  would  have  men  believe 
that  these  gentlemen  and  their  brethren  had  always  been  blind 
to  the  evil  nature  of  such  things  till  now,  and  that  their  pub- 
lic declaration  against  them  was  something  new.  The  fact 
that  such  an  insinuation  was  thus  publicly  made,  shows  that 
there  was  a  class  of  men  who  were  ready  to  receive  it  as 
truth. 

There  were  serious  contentions  and  divisions  in  some  of 
the  churches,  and  separations  from  them  ;  though  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  the  oft-repeated  assertion,  that  the  land  was 
full  of  such  cases. 

A  council  from  ten  churches  was  convened  at  Exeter, 
January  31,  1743.  It  appears  from  their  published  result, 
that  "  a  considerable  number  of  the  brethren  "  had  withdrawn 
from  the  communion  of  the  church,  and  had  called  a  council, 
which  had  met,  and  sanctioned  their  proceedings  ;  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  council  now  called,  ought  not  to  have  been 
done.  The  "  dissatisfied  brethren  "  assigned  several  reasons 
for  withdrawing.  One  was,  the  refusal  of  the  pastor  to  ad- 
mit certain  preachers  into  his  pulpit ;  another  was,  the  con- 
duct of  the  pastor,  in  "  discountenancing  such  as  had  been 
the  subjects  of  a  glorious  work  of  grace."  A  third  was,  the 
settlement  of  the  pastor,  Rev.  Woodbridge  Odlin,  whom 
they  regarded  as  an  opposer  of  the  work  of  God,  and  the 
validity  of  whose  settlement  they  disputed.  A  fourth  was, 
the  pastor's  refusal  to  call  a  church  meeting,  except  on  cer- 
tain conditions  which  the  brethren  thought  objectionable,  and 
which  the  usages  of  that  church  did  not  authorize  him  to  re- 
quire. The  "  dissatisfied  brethren"  refused  to  unite  in  call- 
29 


338  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ing  this  council  of  ten  churches  ;  and  the  council,  after  hear- 
ing an  ex  parte  statement,  sustained  the  pastor  and  "  standing 
brethren."* 

The  Rev.  Ezra  Carpenter,  pastor  of  the  Church  in  Hull, 
was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  "  Testimony"  of  July,  1743; 
yet  some  of  his  people  were  dissatisfied,  because,  as  they 
thought,  he  did  not  preach  the  doctrines  of  grace,  and  was 
an  opposer  of  the  revival.  A  council  was  called  in  1743, 
which  advised  the  church  to  remain  at  peace  with  its  pastor, 
as  there  was  no  reason  for  dissatisfaction.  This  result  pro- 
cured only  a  partial  and  temporary  peace.  The  discontent 
revived,  and  Mr.  Carpenter  was  dismissed  in  1746.  Mr. 
Eeils,  of  Hingham,  was  moderator  of  both  councils,  f 

There  were  difficulties  in  the  Second  Church  in  Bradford  ; 
but  the  "  Brief  Narrative"  of  the  aggrieved  brethren,  does 
not  show  what  connexion  they  had  with  the  revival.  They 
accused  Mr.  Balch,  their  pastor,  of  Arminianism.  He  told 
Ichabod  Cheney,  "if  you  think  my  principles  to  be  errone- 
ous, you  ought  to  prove  them  so."  Cheney  brought  forward 
his  charges  in  writing,  March  10,  1744,  with  written  testi- 
mony to  support  them  ;  but  some  informality  was  alleged 
against  his  mode  of  proceeding,  and  he  and  his  witnesses 
were  put  under  censure.  They  proposed  a  mutual  council. 
Mr.  Balch  objected,  that  a  council  would  decide  according 
to  its  party  predilections.  A  council  was  called,  selected 
by  Mr.  Balch  and  his  friends.  It  sustained  him  and  the 
church  against  the  aggrieved  brethren.  They  invited  the 
First  Church  in  Gloucester,  who  were  thorough-going  friends 
of  the  revival,  to  take  up  the  subject ;  but  the  church  in 
Bradford  refused  to  hear  them,  and  nothing  was  effected.  | 
Mr.  Balch,  Tucker  of  Newbury,  Barnard  of  Haverhill,  and 
others  in  that  region,  were  known  as  Arminians.§  In  1746, 
Balch  was  engaged  in  a  public  controversy  in  defence  of  Ar- 
minianism, against  Wigglesworth  of  Ipswich  and  Chipman 
of  Beverly.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  that  the  difficulties  in 
Bradford  were  aggravated  and  hastened  to  a  crisis,  by  the 
state  of  mind  which  the  revival  produced. 

The  troubles  in  the  Second  Church  in  Ipswich,  of  which 
the  Rev.  Theophilus  Pickering  was  pastor,  manifestly  grew 

*  O.  S.  Ch  Lib.  f  Boston  Gazette,  Dec.  16,  1746. 

I  "  Brief  Narrative."     O.  S.  Ch   Lib. 

§  Historical  Sketch  of  Haverhill,  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Col. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  339 

out  of  the  revival,  and  ended  in  a  division  of  the  church. 
As  early  as  the  beginning  of  1742,  some  of  his  people  were 
dissatisfied  with  his  conduct  in  respect  to  the  revival,  and 
wished  him  to  engage  in  promoting  it.     Meetings  were  held 
in  the  parish,  attended  by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  White  of  Glou- 
cester, Emerson  of  Maiden,  Nathaniel  and  Daniel  Rogers, 
and  probably  by  others.     Pickering  wrote  to  Nathaniel  Rog- 
ers, and  pubhshed  his  letters,  complaining  that  they  preached 
in  his  parish  without  his  consent.*     March  12,  1744,  twenty- 
six  members  presented  a  remonstrance  to  the  church  against 
the  pastor,  containing  fourteen  specifications  under  three  gen- 
eral heads  ;  and  on  the  27th  of  April,  a  second  was  present- 
ed, containing  eight  new  specifications.     Not  obtaining  satis- 
faction, they  separated  from  the  church,  and  finally  became 
the  Fourth  Church  in  Ipswich,  over  whom  the  Rev.  John 
Cleaveland,  whose  expulsion  from  Yale  College  has  already 
been  mentioned,  was  settled  in  1747.      The  twenty-two  spe- 
cifications were  laid  before  a  council  called  by  the  Second 
Church,  which  met  May  20  and  June   10,  1746.     One  of 
the  charges  was,  "  Your  not  being  instant,  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  in  the  work  of  God  ;  and  that,  when  God's  Holy 
Spirit  hath  so  wonderfully  been  poured  out  upon  many  per- 
sons in  many  places,  and  in  yours  in  particular,  you  did  not 
close  with  its  operations,  and  so  be  instrumentally  a  promoter 
of  God's  work  upon  the  hearts  of  his  people  under  your  care  ; 
but  contrariwise,  so  treated  the  work  of  God  and  the  subjects 
thereof,  styling  it  enthusiasm  and  imagination,  as  if  it  might 
proceed  from  a  distempered  brain,  or  conceit  in  the  mind." 
On  this  the  council  judged,  "  That  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pickering 
has  been  wanting  in  his  ministerial  duty,  in  the  late  times,  in 
his  not  early  and  thoroughly  examining  into  the  nature  of  the 
religious  appearances    among  his   flock,   whereby   he    might 
have  been  better  enabled  to  distinguish  between  things  holy 
and  profane  ;  and   that  he  has  too  much  neglected  the  in- 
structing and  guiding  the  subjects  of  those  operations,  inso- 
much that,  we  fear,  he  is  in  some  measure  chargeable  with 
the  irregularities  which  have  happened  among  them."     An- 
other charge  was,  "  Y^our  not  examining  into  the  experiences 
of  those  that  have  ofiered  themselves  to  join  with  the  church 
in  full  communion,  as  you  ought."     The  council  say,  "  We 

*  See  the  Correspondence,  already  quoted. 


340  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

fear  that  Mr.  Pickering  in  some  instances  has  been  negligent 
in  his  duty  of  examining  persons  in  order  to  their  admission 
to  the  Lord's  Table."  Several  of  the  charges  related  to  a 
transaction,  of  which  the  account  is  very  imperfect.  It  ap- 
pears, however,  that,  in  April,  1744,  during  a  conversation 
with  some  of  his  parishioners,  something  had  been  said  of 
his  "  losing  a  parish  ;"  that  he  took  minutes  of  the  conversa- 
tion, complained  of  them  to  the  Grand  Jury,  and  urged  their 
presentment ;  and  that  he  demanded  of  them  sufficient  secu- 
rity, to  refund  all  damages  that  might  in  any  way  arise  to  him 
in  consequence  of  their  conduct.  The  council  judged  that 
on  this  point  the  aggrieved  had  just  cause  of  offence,  and 
that  Mr.  Pickering  had  made  Christian  satisfaction.  They 
judged  also  that  the  aggrieved  had  had  "hard  treatment," 
in  respect  to  several  applications  for  church  meetings  and 
councils.  On  other  charges,  affecting  Mr.  Pickering's  or- 
thodoxy and  ministerial  character,  they  found  "  no  just  cause 
of  offence;"  and  on  the  whole,  that  he  was  "not  guilty,  in 
general,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  charges  brought  against 
him  by  his  aggrieved  brethren."  They  pronounced  the  con- 
duct of  the  aggrieved,  in  withdrawing  from  the  communion 
of  the  church,  setting  up  a  separate  meeting,  and  inviting 
persons  of  doubtful  character,  coming  to  them  in  a  disorder- 
ly manner,  to  teach  them  from  time  to  time,  unjustifiable, 
and  worthy  of  the  censure  of  the  church  ;  though  they  rec- 
ommended "  great  tenderness,  and  even  long-suffering,"  in 
dealing  with  them.  One  of  the  ministers,  it  was  said,  did 
not  vote  for  this  result,  as  he  thought  it  too  severe  on  Mr. 
Pickering  ;  and  three  ministers  and  three  messengers  protest- 
ed against  it,  as  too  lenient  towards  him,  and  too  severe  on 
the  aggrieved ;  though  they  disapproved  the  separation. 
The  venerable  John  White,  of  Gloucester,  was  moderator, 
and  all  the  ministers,  except  two,  were  signers  of  the  Testi- 
mony of  July,  1743.* 

In  such  a  state  of  things  as  these  specimens  indicate,  White- 
field  returned  to  New  England.  After  a  voyage  of  eleven 
w^eeks,  he  arrived  at  York,  in  Maine,  f  October  19,    1744. 

*  See  Pamphlets  on  the  Chebacco  Controversy,  in  the  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib.  and 
AthencBum. 

t  Gillies  says,  "  at  New  York,  in  New  England."  Philip,  in  his  account 
fif  Whitefipjd's  landing,  gives  the  name  correclly  ;  but  in  another  part  of 
his  work  (p. 251)  calls  if  Toronto;"   confounding  the  place  with  Toronto 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  341 

Owing  to  some  slight  imprudence,  he  became  unwell  before 
landing,  and  violently  and  dangerously  sick  soon  after.  By 
the  sedulous  attention  of  his  host,  a  physician,  once  a  noted 
deist,  but  now  one  of  his  spiritual  children,  he  obtained  re- 
lief after  four  days,  and  from  that  time  gradually  improved. 
The  good  Mr.  Moody  called  upon  him,  and  said,  "  Sir,  you 
are,  first,  welcome  to  America  ;  secondly,  to  New  England  ; 
thirdly,  to  all  faithful  ministers  in  New  England  ;  fourthly, 
to  all  the  good  people  in  New  England  ;  fifthly,  to  all  the 
good  people  of  York  ;  and  sixthly  and  lastly,  to  me,  dear 
Sir,  less  than  the  least  of  all."  The  "  Christian  History" 
announced  his  arrival,  and  added,  "  that  his  intention  was,  to 
pass  on  to  Georgia  ;  and,  as  he  goes  on,  to  meddle  with  no 
controversies,  but  only  to  preach  up  the  parts  of  vital  piety 
and  the  pure  truths  of  the  gospel,  to  all  that  are  willing  to  hear 
them."  At  Mr.  Moody's  earnest  request,  after  some  hesi- 
tation, he  preached,  and  immediately  went  to  Portsmouth, 
November  6.  He  preached  that  evening  for  Mr.  Fitch,  and 
was  to  have  preached  the  next  morning,  but  was  too  ill, 
and  deferred  it  till  afternoon.  His  audiences  were  large,  at- 
tentive, and  affected.  In  the  evening,  his  malady  returned,* 
and  confined  him  at  Portsmouth  till  November  24. 

in  Upper  Canada,  which  was  once  called  York.  British  poets,  however, 
must  bear  the  palm  for  blunders  of  this  kind.  See  how  Montgomery,  in 
his  "  Greenland,"  describes  the  country  on  the  St.  Lawrence. 

"  Regions  of  beauty  there  these  rovers  found, 
The  flowery  hills  with  emerald  woods  were  crowned  ; 
Spread  o'er  tlie  vast  savannas,  buffalo  herds 

Ranged  v/ithout  master. 

Here  from  his  mates  a  German  youth  had  strayed, 
Where  the  broad  river  cleft  the  forest  glade  ; 
Swarming  with  alligator  shoals,  the  flood 
Blazed  in  the  sun,  or  moved  in  clouds  of  blood  ; 
The  wild  boar  rustled  headlong  through  the  brake."' 

Mligators  in  the  St.  Lawrence  !  and  buffaloes  feeding  in  the  savannas  on 
its  banks  !  He  might  as  well  confound  England  with  Egypt ;  fill  the 
Thames  with  crocodiles,  and  make  the  hippopotamus  feed  on  its  shores 
among  the  papyrus.  Campbell,  who  says,  that  Americans  cannot  write 
poetry,  is  quite  as  bad.  In  his  "Gertrude  of  Wyoming,"  he  makes  the 
Oneida  Indians,  in  Western  New  York,  Imnt  not  only  the  alligator,  but 
the  condor,  which  is  found  only  on  the  Andes,  in  South  America.  He  is 
equally  wrong,  though  more  excusable,  where  he  makes  his  Oneidas  call  a 
spirit,  "  Manitou,"  like  their  more  northern  neighbours.  The  Iroquois 
have  no  labials  in  their  language.  They  think  it  ridiculous  for  a  man  to 
"  shut  up  his  mouth  when  he  goes  to  talk." 

*  ShurtletF,  Chr.  Hist.  H.  320.     Whitefield's  own  dates,  here,  seem  to  be 
in  peculiar  confusion ;  owing,  perhaps,  to  his  sickness. 

29* 


342  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

It  must  have  been  of  his  second  day  at  Portsmouth,  that 
he  wrote  :  "My  pains  returned  ;  but  what  gave  me  most 
concern  was,  that  notice  had  been  given  of  my  being  to 
preach.  I  felt  a  divine  hfe,  distinct  from  my  animal  life, 
which  made  me,  as  it  were,  laugh  at  my  pains,  though  every 
one  thought  I  was  '  taken  with  death.'  My  dear  York  phy- 
sician was  then  about  to  administer  a  medicine.  I,  on  a 
sudden,  cried  out,  Doctor,  my  pains  are  suspended  ;  by  the 
help  of  God,  I  will  go  and  preach,  and  then  come  home  and 
die.  With  some  difficulty  I  reached  the  pulpit.  All  looked 
quite  surprised,  as  though  they  saw  one  risen  from  the  dead. 
r,  indeed,  was  as  pale  as  death,  and  told  them  they  must  look 
upon  me  as  a  dying  man,  come  to  bear  my  dying  testimony 
to  the  truths  I  had  formerly  preached  to  them.  All  seemed 
melted,  and  were  drowned  in  tears.  The  cry  after  me, 
when  I  left  the  pulpit,  was  like  the  cry  of  sincere  mourn- 
ers, when  attending  the  funeral  of  a  dear  departed  friend. 
Upon  my  coming  home,  I  was  laid  on  a  bed  upon  the  ground, 
near  the  fire,  and  I  heard  them  say,  'he  is  gone.'  But  God 
was  pleased  to  order  it  otherwise.     I  gradually  recovered." 

The  day  before  he  left  Portsmouth,  ShurtlefF  wrote  : 
"  The  prejudices  of  most  that  set  themselves  against  him  be- 
fore his  coming,  seem  to  be  in  a  great  measure  abated,  and 
in  some,  to  be  wholly  removed  ;  and  there  is  no  open  opposi- 
tion made  to  him.  I  liave  frequent  opportunities  of  being 
with  him,  and  there  always  appears  in  him  such  a  concern 
for  the  advancement  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  and  the 
good  of  souls,  such  a  care  to  employ  his  whole  time  to  these 
purposes,  such  sweetness  of  disposition,  and  so  much  of  the 
temper  of  his  great  Lord  and  Master,  that  every  time  I  see 
him,  I  find  my  heart  further  drawn  out  towards  him." 

"  Saturday,  November  24,"  says  the  "  Christian  History  " 
of  December  15,  "the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  was  so  far  re- 
vived as  to  be  able  to  take  coach,  with  his  consort,  and  set 
out  from  Portsmouth  to  Boston  ;  whither  he  came,  in  a  very 
feeble  state,  the  Monday  evening  after  :  since  which  he  has 
been  able  to  preach  in  several  of  our  largest  houses  of  pub- 
lic worship,  particularly  the  Rev.  Dr.  Colman's,  Dr.  Sew- 
all's,  Mr.  Webb's,  and  INIr.  Gee's,  to  crowded  assemblies  of 
people,  and  to  great  and  growing  acceptance.  At  Dr.  Col- 
man's desire,  and  the  consent  of  the  church,  on  the  Lord's 
day  after  his  arrival,  he  administered  to  them  the  holy  com- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  343 

munion.  And  last  Lord's  day  he  preached  for  ihe  venerable 
Mr.  Cheever,  of  Chelsea,  and  administered  the  Holy  Sup- 
per there.  The  next  day  preached  for  the  Rev.  Mr.  Emer- 
son of  Maiden.  Yesterday  he  set  out  to  preach  at  some 
towns  to  the  northward  ;  proposes  to  return  hither  the  next 
Wednesday  evening,  and,  after  a  few  days,  to  comply  with 
the  earnest  invitations  of  several  ministers,  to  go  and  preach 
to  their  congregations,  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  province. 

"  He  comes  with  the  same  extraordinary  spirit  of  meek- 
ness, sweetness,  and  universal  benevolence  as  before  :  in 
opposition  to  the  spirit  of  separation  and  bigotry,  is  still  for 
holding  communion  with  all  Protestant  churches.  In  oppo- 
sition to  enthusiasm,  he  preaches  a  close  adherence  to  the 
Scriptures,  the  necessity  of  trying  all  impressions  by  them, 
and  of  rejecting  whatever  is  not  agreeable  to  them,  as  delus- 
ions. In  opposition  to  Antinomianism,  he  preaches  up  all 
kinds  of  relative  and  religious  duties,  though  to  be  perform- 
ed in  the  strength  of  Christ  ;  and,  in  short,  the  doctrines  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  the  first  fathers  of  this  country. 
As  before,  he  first  applies  himself  to  the  understandings  of 
his  hearers,  and  then  to  the  affections  :  and  the  more  he 
preaches,  the  more  he  convinces  people  of  their  mistakes 
about  him,  and  increases  their  satisfaction." 

The  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  by  a  priest  of 
the  Church  of  England  in  the  Congregational  Church  at 
Brattle  street,  gave  offence.  Some  said,  that  the  consent  of 
the  church  was  neither  given  nor  asked,  and  Dr.  Colman 
was  blamed  for  introducing  Whitefield  by  his  own  authority. 
Dr.  Colman's  defence  was,  that  as  it  was  customary  for  pas- 
tors to  invite  the  assistance  of  other  ministers  on  such  occa- 
sions, he  thought  it  unnecessary  to  call  for  a  vote  of  the 
church  ;  that  he  plainly  intimated  his  intention  in  his  prayer 
after  sermon,  and  then,  on  coming  to  the  table,  said, 
"  The  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  being  providentially  with  us, 
I  have  asked  him  to  administer  the  ordinance  ;"  and  that,  by 
the  countenances  of  the  people,  it  seemed  to  be  universally 
agreeable  to  them,  which  he  supposed  to  be  all  the  consent 
which  the  case  required.  Certainly  Dr.  Colman  was  not  to 
be  severely  blamed  for  such  a  proceeding  ;  and  the  account 
fully  exonerates  Whitefield  from  the  charge  afterwards 
brought  against  him,  of  violating  ecclesiastical  order  on  this 


344  THE  GREAT  AWAKEiNING. 

occasion.  He  had  a  right  to  consider  Dr.  Colman's  invita- 
tion as  sufficient  proof  of  the  orderliness  of  the  service.* 

Meanvi^hile,  opposition  had  been  showing  itself,  and  pre- 
paring to  act  publicly  and  officially.  The  propriety  of  invit- 
ing him  into  the  pulpit  had  been  discussed  in  private  corre- 
spondence, and  anonymously  in  the  newspapers.  A  writer  in 
the  Boston  Evening  Post,  of  November  19,  insisted,  that 
before  being  invited  into  any  pulpit,  he  should  be  required  to 
show  himself  penitent  for  his  itinerancy,  to  retract  his  slan- 
ders, especially  against  Archbishop  Tillotson,to  acknowledge 
his  injurious  treatment  of  the  Boston  ministers,  especially  in 
sending  Mr.  Tennent  to  insult  them,  and  to  render  a  fair 
and  just  account  of  the  money  he  had  received  for  his  or- 
phan house.  Some  of  the  articles  were  evidently  malicious, 
and  even  mean.  One  of  them  upbraided  Whitefield  with 
his  wife's  non-attendance  at  a  certain  lecture,  at  which,  how- 
ever, as  it  afterwards  appeared,  she  was  present.  One  of 
the  most  respectable  was  in  the  Evening  Post  of  Decem- 
ber 17.  The  writer  says  of  Whitefield  :  "  Indeed,  he 
seems  to  be  more  cautious  than  formerly,  and  so  refrains  his 
lips  from  speaking  all  the  gross  things,  which  were  so  shock- 
ing to  all  serious  and  thinking  persons  ;  and  he  insists  some- 
thing more  upon  tlie  substantial  and  useful  doctrines  and  du- 
ties of  religion.  But  an  express  and  full  acknowledgment 
of  his  faults,  and  an  honest  testimony  against  bad  principles 
and  uncharitable  speeches  and  disorderly  walking,  is  still  alto- 
gether wanting,  and  therefore  every  thing  else  he  says  or 
does  can  have  little  or  no  good  effect  :  the  evil  will  still  re- 
main the  same  that  it  was."  Such  was  the  general  strain  of 
the  more  serious  and  gentlemanly  writers.  They  maintained, 
that  the  whole  tribe  of  itinerants,  exhorters  and  Separatists 
still  claimed  him  as  on  their  side  ;  and  they  demanded  some 
public  declaration  from  his  pen,  which  should  compel  them 
to  abandon  that  claim.  He,  however,  relied  on  the  effect  of 
his  present  unobjectionable  labors,  and  no  such  declaration 
appeared. 

At  length,  organized  opposition  commenced.  First  ap- 
peared   "  A  Letter  from  Two  Neighbouring  Associations  of 

"  President  Quincy,  in  his  History  of  Harvard  College,  represents  Dr. 
Colman  as  one  of  the  "  Liberal  "  party  in  the  ministry  of  that  day,  in  dis- 
tinction from  the  "  high  Calvinists,"  who  invited  and  sustained  Whitefield. 
He  nowhere  intimates  that  Colman  and  Whitefield  had  any  intercourse. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  345 

Ministers  in  the  Country,  to  the  Associated  Ministers  of  Bos- 
ton and  Charlestown,  relating  to  the  admission  of  Mr.  White- 
field  into  their  Pulpits."*  It  was  dated  December  26, 
1744.  The  members  of  the  first  of  the  two  associations 
were  Caleb  Gushing,  of  Salisbury  ;  Joseph  Whipple,  of 
Hampton  Falls  ;  John  Lowell,  of  Newbury  ;  Pain  Win- 
gate,  of  Amesbury  ;  Jeremiah  Fogg,  of  Kensington  ;  Na- 
thaniel Gookin,  of  North  Hampton,  N.  H.  ;  Ehsha  Odlin, 
of  Amesbury  ;  Peter  Coffin,  of  Kingston  ;  William  Par- 
sons, of  South  Hampton,  N.  H.  ;  and  Samuel  Webster,  of 
Salisbury.  The  members  of  the  second  were  John  Bar- 
nard, of  Andover  ;  Joseph  Parsons  and  William  Balch,  of 
Bradford  ;  James  Gushing,  of  Haverhill  ;  Christopher  Ser- 
geant, of  Methuen  ;  William  Johnson,  of  Newbury  ;  John 
Gushing,  of  Boxford  ;  Thomas  Barnard,  of  Newbury,  and 
Edward  Barnard,  of  Haverhill.  They  disclaim  all  desire  to 
dictate  to  the  Boston  ministers  what  preachers  they  should 
receive,  and  justify  their  public  remonstrance  on  this  occa- 
sion by  saying,  that  the  consequences  of  Mr.  Whitefield's 
admission  would  not  be  confined  to  the  churches  whom  he 
was  permitted  to  address,  but  would  be  public  and  extensive, 
affecting  the  interests  of  other  ministers  and  churches. 
They  assume,  as  an  undisputed  truth,  that  great  and  grievous 
disorders  had  prevailed  among  the  churches,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  itinerants.  They  ask  :  "  Brethren,  are  you  satis- 
fied Mr.  Whitefield  approves  not  of  these  disorders  .'  Is 
he  against  separations  ?  Is  he  an  enemy  to  enthusiasm  .''  — 
And  why  have  you  not  imparted  the  grounds  of  your  satis- 
faction, if  you  have  received  any,  to  the  public  ?  —  Do  you 
find  in  him  a  disposition  to  the  most  plain  Christian  duty,  of 
humbly  confessing  and  publicly  retracting  his  wicked  and 
slanderous  suggestions  concerning  the  ministry,  and  concern- 
ing our  colleges,  so  much  our  glory  ?  Have  you  prevailed 
with  him  to  make  full  satisfaction  to  the  injured  ?  Has  he 
done  it,  or  is  he  doing  it  ?  Do  you  find  him  inclined  to  heal 
the  unhappy  divisions  occasioned  by  his  former  visit  ?  Can 
you  learn  whether  we  are  to  be  united  in  affection  and  Chris- 
tian communion,  or  whether  some  one  party  is  not,  if  pos- 
sible, to  prevail  upon  the  ruin  of  the  rest .''  "  They  avow 
their  belief,  that  his  former  visit  had  done  more   harm   than 

*  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


346  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

good.  They  inquire,  "  Have  you  not,  by  opening  your 
pulpit  doors  to  this  gentleman,  encouraged  and  spirited  up 
the  weaker  sort  of  people  to  expect  the  like  of  their  minis- 
ters .''  —  And  can  any  thing  perplex  their  conduct,  more 
than  yours,  in  asking  Mr.  Whitefield  to  preach  ;  as  it  must 
undoubtedly  create  much  disaffection  to  them,  in  many  of 
their  people,  for  refusing  him  ?  "  They  urged,  that  as  coun- 
tenancing Mr.  Whitefield  would  have  an  extensive  influence, 
and  greatly  affect  ministers  and  churches  throughout  the  land, 
it  ought  not  to  have  been  done  without  previously  consulting, 
by  some  general  meeting  or  method,  those  whom  it  must  af- 
fect ;  that  it  was  wrong  for  a  (ew  thus  virtually  to  determine 
for  all,  in  a  case  of  common  and  universal  concern  ;  and 
that,  even  after  consultation,  he  ought  not  to  have  been  ad- 
mitted, unless  there  was  a  prospect  that  it  could  be  done 
without  endangering  the  peace  of  the  churches.  And  finally, 
they  besought  all  who  had  not  taken  this  step,  seriously  to 
consider  the  dangers  and  mischiefs  to  which  it  might  lead, 
and  to  present  an  unshaken  opposition  to  the  solicitations  of 
those  who  should  urge  them  into  it. 

To  this  was  appended  an  extract  from  the  records  of 
another  Association,  which  met  at  Cambridge,  January  1, 
1745  :  — 

"Present,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  John  Hancock,  of  Lexington;  Wil- 
liam Williams,  of  Weston;  John  Cotton,  of  Newton;  Nathaniel  Ap- 
pleton,  of  Cambridge  ;  Warham  Williams,  of  Waltham  ;  Seth  Storer, 
of  Watertown  ;  Ebenezer  Turell,  of  Medford  ;  Nicholas  Bowes,  of 
Bedford,  and  Samuel  Cook,  of  Cambridge. 

"The  Rev.  Mr.  Appleton  having  applied  to  his  brethren  of  the  said 
Association  for  our  advice,  relating  to  a  request  which  hath  been  made 
to  him  by  a  number  of  his  church  and  congregation,  that  he  would 
invite  the  Rev.  Mr.  George  Whitefield  to  preach  in  Cambridge:  — 
After  supplications  to  God,  and  mature  consideration  of  the  case  pro- 
posed, and  the  several  pleas  made  in  favor  of  said  request,  and  the 
state  of  the  town,  as  also  the  many  weighty  objections  which  lie  against 
the  said  Mr.  Whitefield  with  respect  to  his  principles,  expressions  and 
conduct,  which  are  not  yet  answered,  nor  has  any  Christian  satisfac- 
tion been  given  by  him  for  them  :  considering  also  how  much  the 
order,  peace  and  edification  of  the  churches  of  this  land  are  endan- 
gered, together  with  the  divided,  unhappy  state  of  many  of  them, 

"  It  was  unanimously  voted.  That  it  is  not  advisable,  under  the 
present  situation  of  things,  that  tlie  Rev.  Mr.  Appleton  invite  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Whitefield  to  preach  in  Cambridge. 

"  And  they  accordingly  declared,  each  of  them  for  themselves  re- 
spectively, that  they  would  not  invite  the  said  gentleman  into  their 
pulpits.'' 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  347 

This  advice  was  signed  by  each  member  of  the  Associa- 
tion, and  attested  by  John  Hancock,  Moderator. 

Of  the  signers  of  the  letter  to  the  Boston  pastors,  several 
appear  to  have  been  decided  opposers  of  the  revival,  in  all  its 
stages,  and  the  name  of  no  one  of  them  is  found  among  its 
friends.  The  Association  which  gave  advice  to  Appleton 
was,  at  least  in  part,  of  a  different  character.  The  part  act- 
ed and  the  declaration  made  by  Williams  of  Weston  at  the 
General  Convention  in  1743,  should  certainly  rescue  his 
name  from  the  list  of  opposers.  Appleton's  sermon  on  the 
same  occasion  shows  where  he  stood.*  Cotton  and  Tur- 
ell  were  signers  of  the  Testimony  of  July,  1743,  and  Ap- 
pleton sent  in  his  Attestation,  to  be  published  with  its  doings. 
Turell  was  an  early  and  influential  promoter  of  the  revival, 
and  the  first  "  outcries  "  in  the  region  around  him  occurred 
among  his  own  people,  under  his  own  preaching.  Cotton's 
character  is  also  fully  vindicated  by  his  "Earnest  Exhorta- 
tion to  seek  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found,  and  call  upon 
him  while  he  is  near  ;"  being  "  Two  Sermons,  delivered  at 
the  Lecture  in  Newton,  April  29,  and  May  8,  1741,  when 
many  were  seeking  for  direction  and  assistance  under  their 
convictions  from  the  Spirit  of  God  striving  with  them."  f 
In  a  note  appended  to  these  sermons,  he  states,  that  more 
than  three  hundred  young  people  of  his  charge,  besides 
many  advanced  in  years,  had  lately  visited  him  as  serious  in- 
quirers. In  the  close  of  the  second  sermon,  he  bears  decided 
testimony  in  favor  of  the  revival,  as  it  existed  in  neighbour- 
ing towns,  and  in  other  colonies  ;  and  the  sermons  them- 
selves were  wise  and  able  efforts  to  promote  it.  They  were 
delivered  a  little  more  than  seven  months  after  Whitefield's 
first  arrival  in  Boston.  —  Such  were  four  out  of  the  nine, 
who  subscribed  the  advice  and  pledge  at  Cambridge. 

The  "Testimony"  of  the  Faculty  of  Harvard  College, 
"against  the  Rev.  Mr.  George  Whitefield  and  his  conduct," 
was  dated  December  28,  1744.  |  The  Faculty  say  :  "We 
look  upon  his  going  about  in  an  itinerant  way,  especially  as 
he  hath  so  much  of  an  enthusiastical  turn  of  mind,  utterly  in- 
consistent with  the  peace  and  order,  if  not  the  very  being,  of 
these  churches  of  Christ.  And  now,  inasmuch  as,  by  a  cer- 
tain faculty  he  hath  of  raising  the  passions,  he  hath  been  the 

•  See  Chapter  XVI.  f  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib.  t  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


r> 


4S  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 


means  of  rousing  many  from  their  stupidity,  and  setting  them 
on  thinking,  whereby  some  may  have  been  made  really  better, 
on  which  account  the  people,  many  of  them,  are  strongly  at- 
tached to  him,  (though  it  is  most  evident  that  he  hath  not  any 
superior  talent  at  instructing  the  mind,  or  showing  the  force 
and  energy  of  those  arguments  for  a  religious  life  which  are 
directed  to  in  the  everlasting  gospel,)  therefore,"  to  meet 
prejudices  in  his  favor,  they  give  the  reasons  for  their  Testi- 
mony. 

First,  they  charged  him  with  "enthusiasm;"  meaning  by 
an  enthusiast,  "one  that  acts  either  according  to  dreams,  or 
some  sudden  impulses  and  impressions  upon  his  mind,  which 
he  fondly  imagines  to  be  from  the  Spirit  of  God,  persuading 
and  inclining  him  thereby  to  such  and  such  actions  ;  though 
he  hath  no  proof  that  such  persuasions  or  impressions  are 
from  the  Holy  Spirit."  This  they  sustained  by  numerous 
quotations  from  his  journals  and  other  writings.  Some  of 
their  proofs  were  unanswerable.  Others  were  made  by  put- 
ting a  worse  construction  upon  his  words  than  was  necessary, 
though  not  worse,  perhaps,  than  had  been  put  upon  them  by 
some  of  his  admirers.  For  example,  they  quoted  from  his 
sermon  on  the  "  Indwelling  of  the  Spirit,"  the  words,  "  to  talk 
of  any  having  the  Spirit  of  God  without  feeling  it,  is  really  to 
deny  the  thing."  This,  they  express  their  fear,  "has  led 
some  to  take  the  expression  literally,  and  hath  given  great 
satisfaction  to  many  an  enthusiast  among  us  since  the  year 
1740,  from  the  swelling  of  their  breasts  and  stomachs  in  their 
religious  agitations,  which  they  have  thought  to  he  feeling  the 
Spirit,  in  its  operations  on  them."  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  Whitefield  understood  the  word  in  that  sense, 
or  to  doubt  that  it  was  so  understood  by  some  of  his  enthu- 
\  siastic  followers. 

They  next  charged  him  with  being  "  an  uncharitable,  cen- 
sorious and  slanderous  man."  In  proof,  they  refer  to  "his 
monstrous  reflections  upon  the  great  and  good  Archbishop 
Tillotson,"  and  quote  from  his  Journal,  where  he  says  he 
was  obliged  to  tell  Commissary  Garden  he  believed  he  was 
an  unconverted  man.  "  But  what,"  they  ask,  "obliged  him 
to  tell  all  the  world  of  it  in  his  Journal  .-'  "  They  refer  to  his 
"reproachful  reflections"  on  Harvard  College,  in  his  Jour- 
nal, "  where  are  observable,  his  rashness  and  his  arrogance. 
His  rashness,  in  publishing  such  a  disadvantageous  character 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  349 

of  US,  because  somebody  had  so  informed  him.  Surely  he 
ought,  if  he  had  followed  our  Saviour's  rule,  to  have  had 
greater  certainty  of  the  truth  of  what  he  published  of  us  to 
the  whole  world.  But  his  arrogance  is  more  flagrant  still  ; 
that  such  a  young  man  as  he,  should  take  upon  him  to  tell 
what  books  we  should  allow  our  pupils  to  read.  But  then  he 
goes  further,  when  he  says,  of  Yale  College  as  well  as  ours, 
'  As  for  the  universities,  I  believe  it  may  be  said,  their 
light  is  now  become  darkness,  darkness  that  may  be  felt.' 
What  a  deplorable  state  of  immorality  and  irreligion  has  he 
hereby  represented  us  to  be  in  !  And  as  this  is  a  most  wick- 
ed and  libellous  falsehood,  (at  least  as  to  our  College,)  as 
such  we  charge  it  upon  him."  They  finish  this  head  of  his 
censoriousness,  by  quoting  what  he  had  said  of  the  clergy  ; 
that  he  was  "  persuaded  the  generality  of  preachers  talk  of 
an  unknown,  unfelt  Christ;"  and  "Many,  nay,  most  that 
preach,  I  fear,  do  not  experimentally  know  Christ."  In 
view  of  these  things,  they  pronounce  him  "  an  uncharitable, 
censorious,  and  slanderous  man  ;  guilty  of  gross  breaches  of 
the  ninth  commandment  of  the  moral  law,  and  an  evident 
disregard  to  the  laws  of  Christian  charity,  as  they  are  deliv- 
ered to  us  in  the  New  Testament.  And  now,"  they  ask, 
"  is  it  possible  that  we  should  not  look  upon  him  as  the 
blamable  cause  of  all  the  quarrels  on  account  of  religion, 
which  the  churches  are  now  engaged  in  ?  And  this,  not  only 
on  account  of  his  own  behaviour,  but  also  as  the  coming  in  ot 
those  hot  men*  amongst  us  afterwards,  (who,  together  with 
the  exhorters  that  accompanied  them,  cultivated  the  same 
uncharitable  disposition  in  our  churches,)  was  wholly  owing 
to  his  influence  and  example." 

They  next  bear  testimony  against  him  as  "a  deluder  of 
the  people,"  in  the  affair  of  contributions  for  the  orphan 
house.  He  had  made  the  people  believe,  that  the  orphans 
were  to  be  under  his  own  immediate  instruction,  and  encour- 
aged them  to  expect  that  some  of  them  would  in  time  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  people  here,  or  to  their  children,  and  this 
made  them  willing  to  contribute;  but  "he  has  scarce  been 
there  for  these  four  years  ;  and  besides,  hath  left  the  care  of 

*  "  The  Tennents,"  Philip  says,  in  his  "Life  and  Times  of  Whitefield ;"  but 
only  one  Tennent  came,  and  he  was  not  accompanied  by  exhorters.  The 
allusion  is  not  to  Tennent,  but  to  such  men  as  Davenport,  and  Croswell, 
and  Buel,  and  others  of  less  character,  who  are  deservedly  forgotten. 

30 


350  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

them  with  a  person  whom  these  contributors  know  nothing; 
of,  and  we  ourselves  have  reason  to  believe,  is  little  better 
than  a  Quaker."  This  person  was  Barber,  Davenport's 
early  friend,  who  met  Whitefield  at  Newport.  They  thought 
him  "little  better  than  a  Quaker,"  because  he  followed  im- 
pressions instead  of  the  written  word  of  God.  They  pro- 
nounced Whilefield's  account  of  disbursements  unsatisfactory, 
because  several  charges  of  large  amount  were  "  for  sundries, 
no  mention  being  made  therein  what  the  sum  was  expended 
for,  nor  to  whom  it  was  paid." 

Such  were  their  objections  against  the  man.  They  also 
bore  testimony  "against  his  manner  of  preaching." 

First,  they  thought  his  extempore  manner  of  preaching 
"  by  no  means  proper,"  because  extempore  preachers  are, 
of  necessity,  less  instructive,  the  greater  part  of  the  sermon 
being  commonly  "the  same  kind  of  harangue  which  they 
have  often  used  before,  —  so  that  this  is  a  most  lazy  manner  " 
of  preaching ;  and  because  it  opposes  the  preacher  to  utter 
rash  expressions,  and  even  dangerous  errors,  as  Whitefield 
had  done  in  several  instances,  probably  from  that  cause. 

"  But  lastly,"  they  say,  "we  think  it  our  duty  to  bear  our 
strongest  testimony  against  that  itinerant  way  of  preaching, 
which  this  gentleman  was  the  first  promoter  of  amongst  us, 
and  still  delights  to  continue  in. — Now,  by  an  itinerant 
preacher,  we  understand  one  that  hath  no  particular  charge 
of  his  ovvn,  but  goes  about  from  country  to  country,  or  from 
town 'to  town  in  any  country,  and  stands  ready  to  preach  to 
any  congregation  that  shall  call  him  to  it.  And  such  an  one 
is  Mr.  Whitefield  ;  for  it  is  but  trifling  for  him  to  say,  as  we 
hear  he  hath,  that  he  requires,  in  order  to  his  preaching  any- 
where, that  the  minister  also  should  invite  him  to  it ;  for  he 
knows  the  populace  have  such  an  itch  after  him,  that  when 
they  greatly  desire  it,  the  minister  (however  diverse  from 
theirs  his  own  sentiments  may  be)  will  always  be  in  the  ut- 
most danger  of  his  people's  quarrelling  with,  if  not  departing 
from  him,  should  he  not  consent  to  their  impetuous  desires." 
An  itinerant,  too,  must  be  an  exciting  preacher,  or  he  would 
not  find  employment  ;  and  when  he  has  excited  the  passions 
of  his  hearers,  can  instil  into  them  almost  any  doctrine  he  is 
pleased  to  broach,  however  erroneous  ;  as  had  been  done  by 
the  itinerants  who  followed  Whitefield,  "and  thrust  them- 
selves into  towns  and  parishes,  to  the  destruction  of  all  peace 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  351 

and  order."  "  But  which  is  worse,  and  is  the  natural  effect 
of  these  things,  the  people  have  thence  been  ready  to  despise 
iheir  own  ministers  ;  and  their  usefulness  among  them,  in  too 
many  places,  hath  been  almost  destroyed."  Nor  could  Mr. 
Whitefield  pretend  that  he  was  acting  in  the  scriptural  office 
of  an  evangelist ;  though  he  seemed  to  prepare  the  way  for 
it,  where,  in  his  journal  of  his  voyage  to  England  after  his 
former  visit,  he  said,  "  God  seems  to  show  me  it  is  my  duty 
10  evangelize,  and  not  to  fix  in  any  particular  place."  For, 
they  argue,  "the  duty  of  that  officer  certainly  was  not  to  go 
preaching,  of  his  own  head,  from  one  church  to  another, 
where  officers  were  already  settled,  and  the  gospel  fully  and 
faithfully  preached  ;"  and  to  suppose  that  such  an  officer  was 
needed  to  labor  among  churches  supplied  with  faithful  and 
able  pastors,  would  be  to  suppose  that  Christ,  through  inca- 
pacity or  unfaithfulness,  had  failed  to  appoint  the  necessary 
officers  in  the  ministry. 

They  conclude,  by  recommending  to  pastors,  "  to  advise 
with  each  other  in  their  several  Associations,  and  consider 
whether  it  be  not  high  time  to  make  a  stand  against  the  mis- 
chiefs which  we  have  here  suggested  as  coming  upon  the 
churches." — This  was  signed  by  the  President  and  whole 
Faculty. 

What  the  greater  part  of  the  Faculty  thought  of  the  revi- 
val at  first,  is  not  known.  Wigglesworth,  Hollis  Professor 
of  Divinity,  was  a  thorough  Calvinist,  and  probably  favored 
it.  The  feelings  of  the  President,  Holyoke,  were  unequiv- 
ocally expressed  in  his  Convention  sermon,*  May  28,  1741. 
"  And  though  religion  is  still  in  fashion  with  us,  yet  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  power  of  it  is  greatly  decayed.  Indeed,  those 
two  pious  and  valuable  men  of  God,f  who  have  been  laboring 
more  abundantly  among  us,  have  been  greatly  instrumental, 
in  the  hands  of  God,  to  revive  this  blessed  work  ;  and  many, 
no  doubt,  have  been  savingly  converted  from  the  error  of 
their  ways,  many  more  have  been  convicted,  and  all  have 
been  in  some  measure  roused  from  their  lethargy.  But  the 
power  of  religion  had  been  greatly  weakened,  and  hath  for  a 
long  time  been  too  much  in  show  and  profession  only."  He 
had  then  seen  the  revival  in  progress  for  more  than  eight 

*  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 

i  "  Mr.  Whitefield  and  Mr.  Tennent,"  is  Prince's  marginal  annotation. 


352  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

months.  He  had  also  read  Whitefield's  Journal,  and  alludes 
to  what  he  said  of  the  College,  in  these  words:  "I  can, 
from  my  own  examination  of  things,  assure  this  venerable 
assembly  that  that  society  hath  not  deserved  the  aspersions 
which  have  of  late  been  made  upon  it,  either  as  to  the  prin- 
ciples there  prevalent,  or  the  books  there  read  ;  and  though 
such  as  have  given  out  a  disadvantageous  report  of  us  in 
these  respects,  I  doubt  not,  have  done  it  in  a  godly  jealousy 
for  the  churches  of  Christ,  that  are  to  be  supplied  from  us, 
yet,  blessed  be  God,  they  are  at  least  mistaken  herein  ;  nor 
has  that  society  been  in  so  happy  a  state  as  to  these  things, 
from  the  time  that  I  was  first  acquainted  with  the  principles 
there,  which  must  be  allowed  to  be  the  space  of  four  or  five 
and  thirty  years  at  least,  as  it  is  at  this  day." 

These  passages  show,  that  Holyoke  did  not  sign  this 
"  Testimony  "  because  he  was  a  "  a  cold  man,"  or  an  enemy 
to  the  revival,  or  out  of  revenge  for  Whitefield's  remarks  on 
the  College.  Those  remarks,  though  he  felt  their  injustice, 
he  forgave,  in  consideration  of  the  good  motive  which  he 
ascribed  to  their  author,  whom  he  still  regarded  as  a  "  pious 
and  valuable  man  of  God."  The  secret  of  his  change  can 
be  explained. 

When  Whitefield  first  arrived  at  Boston,  he  came  at  the 
invitation  of  several  of  the  leading  pastors  and  others,  to  la- 
bor a  (e\v  weeks  with  them  and  for  them.  This  kind  of 
"  itinerancy,"  if  it  might  be  called  by  that  name,  had  always 
been  practised  and  approved  in  New  England.  It  continued 
to  be  practised,  without  objection,  during  this  revival,  by 
Edwards  and  others.  After  Whitefield's  return  to  England, 
he  published  the  declaration  already  quoted  from  his  Journal  : 
"  God  seems  to  show  me  it  is  my  duty  to  evangelize,  and 
not  to  fix  in  any  particular  place."  At  first,  partiality  for  its 
author  prevented  any  unfavorable  interpretation  of  this  lan- 
guage ;  but  experience  at  length  taught  the  public  what  it 
meant.  The  evangelizing  was  to  be  performed,  not  in  re- 
gions where  Christ  had  not  been  named,  or  where  there  was 
a  destitution  of  the  means  of  grace,  but  among  old  and  es- 
tablished churches,  even  if  supplied  with  able  and  faithful 
pastors.  A  divine  command  to  evangelize  in  such  places, 
evidently  implied  a  divine  command  to  pastors  and  people  in 
such  places,  to  welcome  his  evangelical  labors  ;  so  that 
whenever  he  should  come,  none  could   refuse   him  without 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  353 

being  guilty  of  rebellion  against  God.  Whitefield  may  not 
have  been  fully  aware  of  the  import  of  his  claim  ;  but  Da- 
venport and  his  associates  understood  it,  and  felt  equally  sure 
that  God  had  called  them  also  to  evangelize  in  the  same 
style.  They  went  forth  accordingly,  and  demanded  admis- 
sion into  churches  where  they  had  not  been  invited.  If  the 
pastor  refused  to  welcome  them,  they  appealed  at  once  to 
his  people,  denounced  him  as  an  enemy  of  the  work  of  God 
and  a  child  of  the  devil,  who  was  leading  them  blindfold  to 
hell,  and  called  upon  them  to  separate  from  him.  Regard 
for  ecclesiastical  order  being  thus  trampled  under  foot,  there 
was  nothing  to  hinder  laymen  from  receiving  and  obeying  the 
same  "impressions."  A  swarm  of  unordained  exhorters  ac- 
companied and  followed  the  ordained  itinerants,  and  penetrat- 
ed into  still  other  parishes  and  neighbourhoods,  spreading  en- 
thusiasm and  confusion  wherever  they  went.  And  for  all 
this,  both  the  itinerants  and  exhorters  quoted  Whitefield's 
authority.  This  led  to  a  reconsideration  of  the  whole  sub- 
ject. It  was  found  that  Whitefield's  language  and  conduct 
would  bear  the  construction  which  his  enthusiastic  friends 
had  put  upon  them.  His  extravagant  commendations  of  Da- 
venport were  remembered.  His  regard  for  dreams  and  im- 
pulses were  called  to  mind.  And  then,  he  was  a  clergyman 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  could  not  be  supposed  to 
have  any  special  regard  for  Congregational  church  order. 
Though  he  must  have  been  informed  of  the  disorders  com- 
mitted under  the  sanction  of  his  name,  he  had  never  denounc- 
ed them,  or  authorized  any  of  his  correspondents  to  do  it  for 
him  ;  and  since  his  return,  though  frequently  called  upon  to 
speak,  he  preserved  an  unbroken  silence,  and  even  allowed 
the  "  Christian  History  "  to  announce,  that  he  intended  to  take 
no  part  in  any  of  these  controversies.  From  all  this,  many 
inferred  that  he  approved  the  disorders  that  had  been  com- 
mitted, and  would  labor  to  promote  them  ;  and  others  believ- 
ed that  they  grew  naturally  out  of  faults  of  which  he  had  been 
guilty,  so  that  he  was,  in  an  important  sense,  "the  blamable 
cause  "  of  their  occurrence  ;  and  that,  as  he  intended  to  con- 
tinue the  practice  of  the  same  faults,  his  labors  would  pro- 
mote the  same  evils. 

The  next  publication,  January  3,  1745,  was  a  letter  from 
the  Rev.  Nathanael  Henchman,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in 
Lynn,  to  the  Rev.  Stephen  Chase,  of  Lynn  End,  giving  his 
30* 


354  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

reasons  for  declining  to  admit  Mr.  Whitefield  into  his  pulpit.* 
Though  the  work  of  an  individual  merely,  it  deserves  notice, 
as  a  specimen  of  the  thorough-going  opposers  of  the  revival. 
He  speaks  of  the  time,  as  one  "  wherein  were  never  more 
lectures,  prayers  and  sermons,  with  high  pretences  to  extra- 
ordinary light  and  devotion,  and,  it  may  be  feared,  never  less 
vital  religion.  I  confess.  Sir,"  he  says,  "it  is  not  a  little 
satisfaction  to  me,  that,  while  I  am  a  sorrowful  spectator  of 
the  divisions,  separations  and  confusions  which  took  their  ori- 
gin from  this  gentleman,  I  have  never  timorously  secreted 
myself,  nor  betrayed  the  cause  of  Christ,  by  giving  place  to 
strolling  itinerants  and  swarms  of  mean  animals  called  ex- 
horters,  who  are  protected  by  their  notorious  ignorance  and 
brazen  impudence,  with  the  countenance  of  some."  His  first 
objection  against  Whitefield  was,  his  want  of  good  standing 
in  the  Church  of  England,  where  he  had  not  settled  his  af- 
fair with  Commissary  Garden,  and  where  many  refused  him 
their  pulpits.  The  second  was,  his  "  slanderous  treatment 
of  our  colleges."  The  third  was,  "the  insufferable  pride 
and  vanity  of  the  man,  with  his  intemperate,  glowing  zeal. 
Who  ever  equalled  him  in  vain-glorious  boasting  !  —  How 
frequently  doth  he  publish  his  peculiar  intimacy  with  heaven  !" 
Fourthly,  "  his  sermons  are  mostly  one  set  of  expressions, 
from  variable  texts,  addressed  more  to  the  passions  than  the 
nobler  powers  of  the  reasonable  mind  ;  which,  if  gravely  de- 
livered by  another,  Mr.  Whitefield's  admirers  would  not 
account  fit  to  entertain  Christians."  Fifthly,  "  his  frequent 
changing  sides,  —  (in  one  country  he  is  a  true  son  of  the 
Church  of  England,  in  a  second  a  staunch  Presbyterian,  and 
in  a  third,  a  strong  Congregationalist,)  is  one  argument  with 
me,  that  his  honesty  is  not  to  be  relied  on."  —  "Sixthly,  his 
listening  to  dreams,  impulses,  impressions,  inward  feelings 
and  secret  whispers,  as  though  religion  was  all  extasy,  is  dan- 
gerous to  the  church  of  God."  —  "  Seventhly,  his  industri- 
ous and  officious  crowding  himself  into  other  men's  labors, 
I  account  a  great  disorder.  Had  he  a  special  commission 
from  God,  to  be  a  universal  and  general  visitor  of  the  whole 
church  militant,  and  Christ's  vicegerent  to  determine  all  ec- 
clesiastical matters,  and  could  he  prove  his  mission  and  pro- 
duce his  credentials,  the   case  would  be  different.     But  sure 

*  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  355 

I  am,  our  Bible  knows  no  such  spiritual  overseer  and  sur- 
veyor-general of  the  churches  ;  nor  will  his  pretences  to  un- 
common sanctity,  and  fancying  he  is  exalted  above  the  ordi- 
nary clergy,  convince  the  world  that  Christ  hath  subjected  all 
his  ministers  to  Mr.  Whitefield's  authority,  and  by  him  to  be 
killed  and  made  alive  at  pleasure."  —  Eighthly,  he  suspected 
that  Whitefield  came  to  prosecute  two  grand  designs.  The 
first  was,  "  to  make  a  purse  for  himself,  by  begging  with 
great  solemnity  for  his  poor  little  ones  at  the  orphan  house 
in  Georgia,  —  the  most  ill  projected  scheme  since  darkness 
was  on  the  face  of  the  deep,  to  found  an  orphan  house  in  an 
infant  and  expiring  colony,  and  in  the  heart  of  an  enemy's 
country  ;  though  it  answered  well  his  mendicant  intention." 
This  design  he  inferred,  partly  from  his  neglecting  to  pub- 
lish a  full  account  of  his  disbursements,  though  often  called 
upon  to  do  it.  In  the  postscript,  written  after  the  account 
had  been  published,  he  objected  to  it,  because  he  "  omitted 
saying  for  what  and  to  whom  large  sums  had  been  paid,  and 
hath  offered  no  vouchers,"  so  that  the  whole  was  merely 
"an  abuse  on  mankind."  And  he  inferred  the  same  design 
"  partly  from  his  preaching  mostly  in  our  large  towns,  and 
slighting  the  lesser  parishes,  where  souls  are  as  precious,  but 
ready  money  not  so  plenty."  The  second  grand  design  im- 
puted to  Whitefield  was,  "to  raze  the  foundation  of  our 
churches,  and  change  the  religion  of  New  England."  This 
design,  "  to  destroy  our  ecclesiastical  constitution,"  was 
inferred  "  from  his  striking  immediately,  and  with  a  bold  face, 
at  our  standing  regular  ministry,  without  regard  to  their  pub- 
lic character  and  extensive  usefulness.  —  Had  Mr.  White- 
field  been  employed  by  a  secret  hand  behind  the  curtain,  I 
cannot  readily  conceive  he  could  have  embraced  a  more 
probable  method  to  subvert  our  church  constitution."  As 
to  the  pleas,  that  Whitefield  had  done  much  good,  and  that 
he  was  changed  for  the  better.  Henchman  replied  :  "I 
scruple  his  having  done  good,  but  as  God  may  have  brought 
good  out  of  evil  ;  and  at  the  same  time,  I  believe  God  hath 
permitted  him  to  do  vastly  more  evil  than  good.  Nor  can  I 
look  upon  Mr.  Whitefield  as  changed  for  the  better,  while 
the  Separatists  are  sweetly  hugged  by  him,  and  he  continues 
in  the  neglect,  as  hitherto  he  hath  done,  of  what  the  plain 
laws  of  Christ  require  of  him  ;  to  repair,  to  the  utmost  of 
his  power,  in  a  plain,  explicit  and  public  manner,  the  great 


356  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

injuries  he  liath  offered  to  religion,  to  our  colleges,  and  the 
character  of  many  valuable  gentlemen  with  us  ;  and  as  an 
honest  and  upright  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  that 
he  make  his  peace  at  home,  and  steadily  adhere  and  preach 
agreeable  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  which,  he  saith,  he 
proved  true  from  the  word  of  God,  before  he  subscribed 
them."  To  "  make  his  peace  at  home  "  as  the  Church  of 
England  then  was,  Whitefield  must  have  preached  baptismal 
regeneration,  and  justification  by  decent  morals  ;  and  nothing 
but  that,  or  something  equally  quieting,  would  have  satisfied 
Henchman.* 

Next  came  "  The  Sentiments  and  Resolution  of  an  Associ- 
ation of  Ministers,  convened  at  Weymouth,  January  15,  1745, 
concerning  the  Rev.  Mr.  George  Whitefield."!  ^^  is  in  a  bet- 
ter spirit,  or  at  least  in  abetter  style,  than  any  of  the  preceding, 
and  has  some  additional  thoughts.  Having  declared  their  con- 
currence with  the  Faculty  of  Harvard  College  and  the  three 
Associations  already  mentioned,  in  the  articles  exhibited 
against  Mr.  Whitefield,"  they  add  :  "  Whatever  charity  may 
prompt  us  to  think  of  the  honesty  of  his  design,  yet  we  cannot 
but  disapprove  of  him  as  an  itinerant  preacher.  We  know  not 
any  such  officer  appointed  by  Christ,  the  Head  of  the  church, 
nor  what  warrant  Mr.  Whitefield  can  plead,  besides  his  own 
impulses  and  impressions,  for  his  acting  in  that  capacity." 
They  bear  testimony  "  against  his  enthusiastic  spirit,"  and 
then  proceed  to  notice  some  things  that  had  occurred  lately. 
One  was,   "  Mr.  Whitefield's  conduct  with  respect    to  those 

*  The  History  of  the  First  Church  in  Lynn  is  instructive.  Its  quiet,  if  it 
had  ever  been  disturbed,  became  as  profound  as  Henchman  himself  could 
wish.  It  was  perfectly  free  from  "  intemperate,  glowing  zeal."  It  was  agi- 
tated by  no  feeling  about  religion  that  could  cause  the  least  disturbance. 
As  a  consequence,  there  was  no  anxiety  about  soundness  of  doctrine, 
but  rather  a  disposition  to  receive  without  questioning  the  most  quieting 
doctrines  that  could  be  preached.  The  quiet  grew  deeper  and  deeper,  un- 
der a  succession  of  Unitarian  ministers,  till  there  were  but  three  male  mem- 
bers in  the  church,  and  the  people  were  left  witiiout  a  pastor,  because 
there  was  not  feeling  enough  about  religion  to  raise  a  minister's  salary. 
While  thus  destitute,  some  theological  students  from  Andover  visited 
them,  and  occasionally  performed  such  labors  as  the  rules  of  the  Seminary 

fermit.  The  agitating  doctrines  of  grace  soon  began  to  produce  feeling, 
ncreasing  nimibers  berran  to  care  about  religion.  At  length,  by  the  aid 
of  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society,  an  Orthodox  pastor  was  settled, 
under  whom  the  quiet  of  others  still  was  disturbed,  and  the  church  grew, 
till  they  were  again  able  to  support  a  pastor  without  aid.  The  minutes 
of  the  General  Association  for  1840  inform  us,  that  it  has  IG6  members, 
of  whom  42  are  males,  and  2-50  children  and  youth  in  Sabbath  School  and- 
Bible  Class. 

t  O.  S.  Ch.  Library. 


THE   GREAT  AWAKENING.  357 

persons  who  cry  out  in  the  public  assemblies,  and  are  suppos- 
ed to  be  religiously  affected  by  the  preaching  of  the  word. 
This  gentleman  has  said,  in  one  of  his  journals,  that  'he  be- 
lieves ihese  things  come  from  the  devil.'  Accordingly  at  his 
first  preaching  in  Boston,  in  this  visit,  he  sj^jake  openly  to  a 
woman  that  cried  out,  desired  her  to  refrain,  and  added,  that 
'  such  things  are  not  for  the  glory  of  God.'  And  several 
times  since,  he  has  in  words  borne  testimony  against  this  dis- 
turbance, calling  it  a  stratagem  of  Satan.  But  it  has  been 
observed,  especially  while  he  was  preaching  in  the  country 
towns,  that  upon  such  an  incident  he  would  at  once  raise  his 
voice,  as  if  he  was  trying  to  vie  with  them  in  screaming  ;  and 
by  these  means  others  are  affected  in  the  like  manner,  and  the 
cry  waxes  louder  and  louder,  till  the  assembly  is  thrown  into 
confusion  ;  and  afterwards  a  pompous  account  is  published 
to  the  world,  of  the  power  of  God,  and  the  visible  tokens  of 
his  presence  in  that  congregation.  —  And  how  much  worse 
is  it,  if  at  such  a  time  public  thanks  have  been  given  to  God 
for  the  effects  of  his  power  and  grace,  before  he  has  had  any 
opportunity  to  converse  with  the  persons  thus  affected,  to  know 
their  state  of  mind."  —  They  were  "surprised  and  grieved," 
that  he,  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  England,  should  administer 
the  Lord's  Supper  in  Congregational  churches.  —  They  tes- 
tified against  his  preaching,  "as  having  a  tendency  to  pro- 
mote a  spirit  of  bitterness.  He  is  often  crying  out  of  perse- 
cution ;  and  has  said,  that  if  it  were  not  for  the  restraints  of 
human  laws,  the  streets  would  run  down  with  the  blood  of 
the  saints.  At  the  same  time  the  people  think,  and  per- 
haps are  taught  to  think,  that  few  or  none  are  saints,  but  those 
who  adhere  to  him  and  his  cause.  What  must  be  the  effect 
of  this,  but  to  raise  the  most  virulent  enmity  and  malice  in  the 
hearts  of  his  followers,  against  those  who  are  called  opposers, 
and  to  dispose  them  to'treat  one  another  as  the  most  inveterate 
enemies  ?  " —  They  condemn  his  practice  of  singing  hymns 
in  the  public  roads,  when  riding  from  town  to  town  ;  and 
finally  remark,  that  in  almost  every  town  where  he  had 
preached,  the  consequence  had  been,  more  or  less  alienation 
between  the  minister  and  people  ;  sometimes  the  minister 
and  sometimes  the  people  being  for  him,  and  the  other 
against  him  ;  whence  came  contention,  and  the  obstruction 
of  the  pastor's  usefulness.  "  Wherefore,"  they  say,  "  we 
now  declare,  each    one    for  himself,    that  we  cannot  with  a 


358  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

good  conscience,  and  therefore  will  not,  directly  nor  indi- 
rectly, encourage  Mr.  Whitefield  to  preach,  either  publicly 
or  privately,  in  our  respective  parishes." 

Of  themselves  they  say  :  "We  are  free  to  acknowledge  that 
some  of  us,  a  ^ew  years  ago,  pleased  ourselves  with  the  hope- 
ful prospect  of  an  happy  state  of  the  church.  But,  alas,  the 
many  sad  effects  of  an  enthusiastic,  erroneous  and  divisive 
spirit,  which  have  appeared  since,  chiefly  promoted  by  Mr. 
Whitefield's  itinerancy,  and  the  other  gentlemen  who  followed 
his  steps,  now  afford  a  melancholy  proof  that  this  judgment 
was  formed  too  suddenly,  and  upon  too  weak  evidence. 
Whatever  pleasing  scenes  the  fancies  of  any  of  us  might  then 
paint  to  ourselves  or  others,  yet  now  we  are  all  filled  with 
fearful  apprehensions,  from  the  black  and  thick  cloud  which 
hangs  over  our  churches,  and  threatens  their  ruin,  unless  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness  mercifully  appears  to  dissipate  it." 
They  then  exhort  all  "  to  examine,  how  far  they  have  been 
accessory  to  the  present  difficulties  and  confusions,"  and 
"  beg  that  none  may  mistake  a  party  spirit  for  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel,  or  imagine  that  religion  consists  in  either  an  obstinate 
attachment  or  violent  opposition  to  Mr.  Whitefield." 

This  was  signed  by  Samuel  Niles,  of  Braintree,  Modera- 
tor ;  Nathanael  Eells,  of  Scituate;  Samuel  Brown,  of  Abing- 
ton  ;  Ebenezer  Gay,  of  Hingham  ;  Daniel  Perkins  and  John 
Angier,  of  Bridgewater  ;  John  Taylor,  of  Milton  ;  Samuel 
Dunbar,  of  Stoughton  ;  Jonathan  Bowman,  of  Dorchester  ; 
William  Smith,  of  Weymouth  ;  John  Fowle,  of  Hingham  ; 
and  Philip  Curtis,  of  Stoughton.  They  were,  as  their  own 
statement  implies,  of  different  opinions  concerning  the  revival 
from  the  first,  and  in  all  probability,  differed  now  concerning 
its  character  at  the  beginning.  Eells  and  Fowle  were  sign- 
ers of  the  Testimony  of  July,  1743.  Perkins  invited  Ten- 
nent  to  his  pulpit  in  1741,  which  was  a  principal  means  of 
promoting  the  revival  in  Bridgewater.  The  cautious  part 
acted  by  Eells,  as  moderator  of  the  General  Convention  in 
1743,*  shows  something  of  his  views  ;  and  he  soon  found 
occasion  to  express  them  very  definitely.  To  counteract  the 
influence  of  all  these  testimonies  against  Whitefield,  the  names 
of  the  signers  of  the  Testimony  of  July  1743  were  publish- 
ed   in   the   newspapers,  as  witnesses  to  his  great  usefulness. 

*  See  Chaper  XVI. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  '     359 

Eells  explained  himself  thus,  in  the  Evening  Post  of  Februa- 
ry 4  :  "  I  have  been,  and  still  am, of  the  opinion  that  there 
hath  been,  in  several  towns  in  New  England,  within  a  few 
years  past,  a  great  revival  of  religion  ;  but  never  was  of  the 
opinion,  that  '  Mr.  Whitefield  was,  under  God,  the  principal 
means  '  of  reviving  it.  —  Possibly  he  may  have  been  an  in- 
strument of  doing  good  to  some  particular  persons  that  have  ■ 
heard  him  ;  but,  according  to  the  best  observation  that  I  have 
been  capable  of  making,  I  never  found  reason  to  think  that 
God  made  him  the  principal  means  of  its  revival.  He  hath, 
if  I  am  not  much  mistaken,  been  the  means  of  much  censori- 
ousness,  confusion  and  disorder,  in  one  place  and  another  ; 
and  I  verily  believe  that  God,  in  judgment,  and  not  in  mercy 
lo  this  people,  hath  sent  him  again  into  this  country." 

To  the  publication  of  this  Association  was  added  a  note, 
in  which  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Nehemiah  Walter,  of  the  First 
Church  in  Roxbury  ;  James  Allen,  of  the  church  in  Brook- 
line  ;  and  Nathanael  Walter,  of  the  Second  Church  in  Rox- 
bury, express  their  approbation  of  what  had  been  published 
by  the  College  Faculty  and  the  three  Associations;  and  their 
determination  not  to  invite  Mr.  Whitefield,  or  any  other  itin- 
erant, into  their  pulpits.  Nehemiah  Walter  was  the  venera- 
ble Puritan,  the  successor  of  Eliot,  whom  Whitefield  visited  at 
Roxbury,  soon  after  his  first  arrival  at  Boston.  According 
to  his  Journal,  the  interview  was  highly  satisfactory  to  both. 
Allen  of  Brookline  signed  the  Testimony  of  July,  1743,  and 
sent  an  account  of  the  revival  among  his  people  to  Cooper, 
which  was  published  in  the  "Christian  History." 

It  was  impossible  for  Whitefield  to  keep  silence,  as  he 
had  intended.  He  had  inflicted  injuries,  which  justice  re- 
quired him  to  repair  ;  and  while  he  neglected  it,  his  enemies 
took  advantage  of  the  neglect,  and  good  men  were  becoming 
disafl^ected.  His  private  correspondence  shows  what  he 
thought  of  the  charges  against  him.  January  18,  he  wrote 
to  a  friend  :  "  Some  occasions  of  offence  had  undoubtedly 
been  given  whilst  I  was  here  and  preached  up  and  down  the 
country.  Nothing,  however,  appeared,  but  a  pure  divine 
power,  working  upon,  converting  and  transforming  people's 
hearts  of  all  ranks,  without  any  extraordinary  phenomena  at- 
tending it.  Good  Mr.  Tennent  succeeded  me.  Numbers 
succeeded  him.  Lecture  upon  lecture  was  set  up  in  various 
places.     One    minister  called    to    another   to  help  drag  the 


360  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

gospel  net.  And  by  all  accounts  I  can  have  from  private  in- 
forination,  or  good  Mr.  Prince's  weekly  History,  one  would 
have  imagined  the  millennium  was  coming  indeed.  But  in 
this  mixed  state  of  things,  wild  fire  will  necessarily  blend  it- 
self with  the  pure  fire  that  comes  from  God's  altar.  This 
the  enemy  long  waited  for.  At  last,  it  broke  out  and  spread 
itself,  and  it  must  be  confessed,  by  the  instrumentality  of 
many  good  souls,  both  among  clergy  and  laity,  who,  mistak- 
ing fancy  for  faith,  and  imagination  for  revelation,  were  guilty 
of  great  imprudence.  All  is  laid  to  me,  as  being  the  pri- 
mum  mobile  ;  tbough  there  was  not  so  much  as  the  appear- 
ance of  any  thing  of  this  nature,  when  I  left  New  England 
last."  February  19,  he  wrote  :  "  Some  unguarded  expres- 
sions, in  the  heat  of  less  experienced  youth,  I  certainly  did 
drop.  I  was  too  precipitate  in  hearkening  to  and  publishing 
private  information,  and,  Peter-like,  cut  off  too  many  ears." 
This  is  certainly  not  very  far  from  the  truth.  Yet  there  is 
reason  to  suspect  that  he  still  thought  too  favorably  of  the 
"  disorders"  and  their  authors.  In  a  letter  dated  February 
G,  he  informs  a  friend,  that  "  the  high  sheriff,  who  was  once 
most  foremost  in  persecuting  the  good  Mr.  Davenport,"  was 
"  a  little  convinced."  Davenport,  at  that  time,  would  hard- 
ly have  called  his  treatment  at  Boston,  persecution.  His 
"Retractation  "  was  dated  July  28,  1744. 

Whitefield  began  by  publishing  a  letter  to  Dr.  Chauncy, 
dated  November  19,  1744,  and  written  while  he  was  sick  at 
Portsmouth.  In  his  "  preface  to  the  reader,"  dated  January 
18,  1745,  he  says,  "I  should  have  published  it  much  soon- 
er, had  I  not  hoped  that  the  manner  and  method  of  my 
preaching  would,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  have  rendered  it 
needless.  But  being  called  upon  from  different  quarters  to 
give  an  account  of  my  conduct  and  some  part  of  my  writ- 
ings, I  now  think  it  my  duty  to  publish  the  letter." 

It  was  in  reply  to  some  parts  of  Chauncy's  "  Seasonable 
Thoughts  on  the  State  of  Religion."  Its  temper,  Chauncy, 
in  his  answer,  dated  January  31,  acknowledged  to  be  unex- 
ceptionable, though  its  substance  failed  to  remove  his  objec- 
tions. * 

Chauncy's  leading  objection  was  against  itinerant  preach- 
ing. "  This,"  he  said,  "  had  its  rise,  at  least  in  these  parts, 
from  Mr.  Whitefield  ;  though  I  could  never  see,  T  own,  up- 
on what  warrant,  either   from   Scripture  or  reason,  he  went 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  361 

about  preaching  from  one  province  and  parish  to  another, 
where  the  gospel  was  akeady  preached,  and  by  persons  as 
well  qualified  for  the  work  as  he  can  pretend  to  be."  White- 
field  replied  :  "  But  did  I  come  unasked  .''  Nay,  did  not 
some  of  those  very  persons  who  were  as  well  qualified  for 
the  work  as  I  can  pretend  to  be,  send  me  letters  of  invita- 
tion ?  Yes,  assuredly  they  did,  or  otherwise,  in  all  probabili- 
ty, I  had  never  seen  New  England."  This  was  certainly  a 
sufficient  justification  of  his  first  visit,  if  he  came  merely  as  an 
invited  minister,  to  render  occasional  assistance  to  those  who 
requested  it ;  but  it  did  not  touch  the  question,  by  what  war- 
rant he  set  up  as  an  itinerant  for  life.  On  this  point,  he  only 
referred  to  a  former  promise  to  inform  the  world  at  some  fu- 
ture time,  how  he  "  was  led  out  into  "  his  "  present  way  of 
acting."  Chauncy  had  intimated,  that  Whitefield's  itinerat- 
ing had  not  been  to  his  temporal  disadvantage.  "He  has 
certainly  made  large  collections  ;  and  if,  in  doing  this,  he  had 
a  fellovz-feeling  with  the  orphans,  it  is  no  more  than  might  be 
expected."  VVhitefield  understood  "fellow-feeling"  to 
mean  "fellow-sharing,"  of  such  a  kind  as  would  prove  him 
"a  consummate  villain."  He  felt  hurt  by  this  imputation 
upon  his  honesty,  and  pronounced  it  "  ungentleman-like,  as 
well  as  uncharitable."  Chauncy,  in  return,  felt  hurt  by  this 
interpretation  of  his  words,  and  protested  that  such  a  thought 
never  entered  into  his  heart.  Chauncy,  though  incapable  of 
appreciating  such  a  man  as  Whitefield,  was  too  good  a  judge 
of  character  to  suspect  him  of  intentional  dishonesty.  An- 
other charge  was,  that  "  the  spirit  of  rash,  censorious  and 
uncharitable  judging"  of  ministers  "  first  appeared  in  Mr. 
Whitefield,  who  seldom  preached  but  he  had  something  or  oth- 
er to  say  against  unconverted  ministers."  He  replied,  "  Was 
there  any  harm  in  this  .''  Are  not  unconverted  ministers  the 
bane  of  the  Christian  church  ?"  It  did  not  occur  to  him, 
that  preaching  against  that  "  bane  "  in  almost  every  sermon, 
implied  that  the  bane  was  very  plenty,  and  that  a  great  deal 
of  such  preaching  was  needed  ;  in  other  words,  that  he 
thought  a  great  part  of  the  ministers  unconverted,  and  the 
people  wiUing  to  have  it  so.  Of  the  offensive  sentence  near 
the  close  of  his  New  England  Journal,  —  "  Many,  perhaps 
most  that  preach,  I  fear,  do  not  experimentally  know 
Christ,"  —  he  said  :  "I  confess,  this  was  too  unguarded  ;  for 
whether  in  fact  it  was  true  or  not,  that  most  that  preach  in 
31 


362  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

New  f]ngland  did  not  experimentally  know  Christ,  yet  I 
ought  to  have  taken  more  time  before  I  delivered  my  judg- 
ment. I  thank  you,  Rev.  Sir,  for  pointing  out  this  fault  to 
me.  But  that  I  had  a  design,  either  in  preaching  or  writing, 
to  alienate  people's  minds  from  their  standing  ministers,  1 
utterly  disavow.  My  whole  design  in  preaching  was,  to 
show  the  unspeakable  danger  of  persons  taking  upon  them  to 
preach  Christ  to  others,  till  they  are  acquainted  with  him 
themselves  ;  and  in  my  writings,  to  give  an  impartial  account, 
as  far  as  I  was  informed,  how  affairs  which  concern  the 
kingdom  of  God,  stood  in  New  England."  This  is  doubt- 
less an  honest  account  of  the  matter,  as  it  lay  in  his  own 
mind.  But  to  many,  it  was  not  satisfactory.  They  could 
not  believe  that  so  eloquent  a  man  could  be  so  short-sighted. 
They  thought  he  must  have  designed  to  produce  the  effects 
which  followed  so  naturally  from  his  words.  But  this  was  a 
topic,  on  which  universal  satisfaction  ought  not  to  have  been 
given.  There  were  those  whom  nothing  would  satisfy,  but 
an  abandonment  and  condemnation  of  the  truth. 

Of  his  treatment  of  Archbishop  Tillotson,  Whitefield  said  : 
"  I  acknowledge  that  I  spoke  of  his  person  in  too  strong 
terms,  and  too  rashly  condemned  his  state,  when  I  ought  only 
to  have  censured  his  doctrine."  As  to  his  regard  to  impul- 
ses and  impressions,  he  showed  that  some  passages  quoted 
from  his  writings  admitted  a  safer  sense  than  had  been  as- 
cribed to  them  ;  but  it  was  plain  from  his  arguments,  that  his 
views  were  not,  even  yet,  entirely  correct. 

Next,  and  before  this  could  have  gone  into  circulation, 
came  a  pamphlet  containing  the  Testimony  of  an  Associa- 
tion convened  at  Marlborough,  January  22,  1745,  and  that 
of  a  number  of  ministers  in  the  County  of  Bristol.  These 
were  in  a  worse  spirit  than  any  public  body  had  yet  exhibited. 
The  first  endorses  the  Testimony  from  Harvard  College,  and 
that  of  "  some  of  our  Rev.  fathers  and  brethren  in  the  minis- 
try." It  denies,  that  Whitefield  had  "come  with  another 
spirit  than  before,"  as  he  still  adhered  to  the  same  errors, 
and  as  he  published  no  confession  of  his  faults.  It  was 
signed  by  John  Prentice,  of  Lancaster ;  Israel  Loring,  of 
Sudbury  ;  .Job  Cushing,  of  Shrewsbury  ;  John  Gardner,  of 
Stow  ;  William  Cooke,  of  Sudbury  ;  Nathan  Stone,  of 
Southborough  ;  .John  Swift,  of  Acton  ;  Aaron  Smith,  of 
Marlborough  ;   Kbenezer    INIorse,   of  Shrewsbury  ;  Thomas 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  363 

Goss,   of  Bolton  ;  Elisha  Marsh,    of  Narraganset,   No.    2  ; 
Joseph  Davis,  of  Holden,  and  John  Mellen  of  Lancaster. 

The   other  is  remarkable   only  Tor  this  passage  :   "When 
Mr.  Whitefield    first   came  among  us,  he   used   his    utmost 
craft  and  cunning,  to  strike  the  passions  and   engage  the  af- 
fections of  the  people  ;  and  when  he  had  wrought  them  up 
into   a   fond  opinion  of  his  excellencies,  and    they  began  to 
look  upon  him  as  one  endowed  with  an   uncommon   measure 
of  the    Spirit,    he   continued   to   insinuate  that   unconverted 
ministers  could  do  httle  or  no  good  to  souls  ;  that  dead  men 
might  as  well   beget  living  children.     Having   thus  prepared 
the  way,  he  leaves  the  country  with  this  most  vile  insinuation  : 
'  That  many,  nay,  most  that  preach,  I  fear,  do   not  experi- 
mentally know  Christ,  and  the  universities   are  become  dark, 
darkness  in  the  abstract.'     Well,  what  is  the  language   of  all 
this  }     He  that  runs  may  read.     Dead  men  may  as  well  be- 
get living  children,  as   an  unconverted  minister  do  good   to 
souls.      The  most  of  your  ministers  are  unconverted.     You 
must,  then,  if  you  have   any  regard  to   your  souls,   separate 
from   them,  and  seek  better  help.     But  what  will  you  do  ? 
You  can't  have  any  help  from  the  colleges.      There  is  noth- 
ing but  darkness,  —  darkness   that  maybe  feh.     You  must 
then  content  yourselves  with  some  illiterate  exhorters,  until 
you  can  have  a  supply  from  the  Shepherd's  Tent,  the  Orphan 
House,  or  elsewhere.     It  appeareth  to  us,   that  the  devil, 
with    all  his   cunning,  could  not  take  a  more   direct   step   to 
overthrow  these   churches,    hurt    religion   and    the  souls  of 
men."     This    was    signed    by    Joseph    Avery,  of  Norton  ; 
John  Greenwood  and   David  Turner,  of  Rehoboth  ;   Eben- 
ezer  White,   of  Norton  ;  Solomon    Townsend,    of  Barring- 
ton  ;  and  John  Burt,  of  Bristol.     No  proof  has  been  found 
that  any  whose  names  are  on  these  papers,  were  ever  friends 
of  the  revival. 

This,  so  far  as  appears,  was  the  last  of  the  associated  min- 
isterial Testimonies  against  Whitefield,  as  well  as  the  least 
creditable  to  its  authors.  The  number  of  pastors  who  signed 
them  was  sixty-three.  Of  these,  nine  are  known  to  have 
been  early  friends  and  promoters  of  the  revival,  and  it  is 
probable  that  others  were  on  the  same  side  :  but  concerning 
the  early  sentiments  of  the  greater  part  of  the  sixty-three, 
there  is  no  proof,  while  it  is  certain  that  some  of  them  were 
opposers  from  the  beginning. 


364  THE  GREAT  AVvAKENING. 

The  next  day,  January  23,  1745,  was  the  date  of  White- 
field's  reply  to  the  Faculty  of  Harvard  College.  It  is  one 
of  his  most  finished  productions  of  the  kind,  and  that  on 
which  he  mainly  relied  for  the  defence  of  his  conduct  in 
New  England. 

In  defending  himself  against  the  charge  of  enthusiasm,  he 
is  partially,  and  but  partially,  successful  ;  for,  while  he  had 
never  been  so  bad  as  they  represented  him,  he  was  not  yet 
wholly  recovered  from  his  early  mistakes.  He  justifies  what 
he  had  said  of  Archbishop  Tillotson's  works  ;  but  says, 
"  This  does  not  prove  that  I  cast  reflections,  which  you  call 
monstrous,  upon  Archbishop  Tillotson,  as  to  his  personal 
character."  How  this  is  to  be  reconciled  with  his  previous 
concession  to  Dr.  Chauncy,  that  he  had  done  wrong  in  judg- 
ing "  his  state  and  person,"  he  does  not  explain.  He  asks 
whether  what  he  wrote  of  the  College,  was  not  true  when 
he  wrote  it  ;  says,  that  he  had  no  idea  of  representing  their 
character  to  be  so  bad  as  they  seemed  to  understand,  but 
only  that  there  had  been  a  great  religious  declension,  such  as 
the  President,  in  his  Convention  sermon,  acknowledged  to 
})revail  throughout  the  land.  He  adds  :  "  However,  I  am 
sorry  I  published  my  private  informations,  though  from  cred- 
ible persons,  concerning  the  colleges,  to  the  world  ;"  and 
assured  them  he  should  be  glad  to  find  that  the  President's 
testimony,  in  his  Convention  sermon  the  next  spring,  was 
correct.  Whitefield's  testimony  concerning  his  own  meaning 
is  to  be  admitted.  Yet,  if  he  meant  in  his  Journal,  only 
what  he  asserts  in  this  explanation,  his  language  was  blamably 
strong,  and  naturally  had  the  effect  of  slander.  And  yet  it 
is  certain,  from  the  testimony  of  Edwards  and  other  contem- 
porary evidence,  that  the  colleges  did  need  admonition. 
Some,  well  acquainted  at  Cambridge,  asserted  that  White- 
field's  statements  were  none  too  strong.  The  fact,  that  two 
of  the  Faculty  had  lately  been  deposed  for  gross  immorality, 
was  quoted  as  evidence  on  both  sides  ;  by  one,  as  evidence 
that  immorality  was  found  there,  and  by  the  other,  as  evi- 
dence that  it  was  not  allowed.  Both  inferences  were  proba- 
bly correct. 

As  to  the  orphan  house,  Whitefield  asked,  could  it  be 
proved  that  the  contributions  made  for  its  support,  were  not 
faithfully  applied  for  that  purpose  ?  Did  he  promise  to  be 
always  there.''    And  if  providentially   absent  more   than  he 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  365 

expected,  could  he  help  it  ?  And  did  the  people  know  noth- 
ing of  Barber,  who  was  with  him  in  his  tour  through  New 
England  ;  and  who,  whatever  might  have  been  reported  of 
him,  was  a  good  man  ?  The  published  accounts,  he  said, 
were  satisfactory  to  the  contributors  ;  and  indeed,  they  would 
have  been  satisfied  without  any,  for  they  had  confidence  in 
his  honesty.  But  did  the  Faculty  ever  see  any  that  were 
more  particular  ?  Were  those  of  the  Society  for  Propagating 
the  Gospel  more  so  ?  If  money  were  entrusted  to  tl}em,  for 
the  College,  would  they  publish  a  more  particular  account  ? 
Here,  Whitefield  judged  incorrectly.  His  account  was,  as 
his  enemies  said,  "general  and  lumping,"  not  audited,  and 
without  vouchers,  —  such  as  ought  to  satisfy  none,  except 
those  who  had  other  reasons  for  confidence  in  his  honesty. 
It  was  much  more  severely  handled  in  Scotland,  than  here. 

Extempore  preaching,  he  decidedly  preferred  to  any  oth- 
er. Yet  he  did  not  preach,  or  pretend  to  preach,  without 
previous  study.  His  sermons  cost  him  as  much  previous 
labor,  as  if  they  were  written  ;  so  that  this  way  was  not  a  lazy 
manner  of  preaching.  The  dangerous  errors,  which  they 
said  he  had  uttered,  were  mere  slips  of  the  tongue,  and  had 
been  retracted  as  soon  as  he  was  informed  of  them. 

Itinerancy  he  defended,  as  scriptural  and  right.  Under- 
standing an  evangelist  to  be,  what  they  say  an  itinerant  is, 
"  one  that  hath  no  particular  charge  of  his  own,  but  goes 
about  from  country  to  country,  or  from  town  to  town  in  any 
country,  and  stands  ready  to  preach  to  any  congregation  that 
shall  call  him  to  it."  For  the  divine  command,  "  Go  ye  into 
all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,"  he 
argued,  "authorizes  the  ministers  of  Christ,  even  to  the  end 
of  the  world,  to  preach  the  gospel  in  every  town  and  country, 
though  not  'of  their  own  head,'  yet  whenever  and  wherever 
Providence  should  open  a  door,  even  though  it  should  be  in 
a  place  'where  officers  are  already  settled,  and  the  gospel  is 
fully  and  faithfully  preached.'  This,  T  humbly  apprehend, 
is  every  gospel  minister's  indisputable  privilege."  He  asked, 
"  Was  not  the  Reformation  began  and  carried  on  by  itinerant 
preaching.''  Were  not  Knox  "  and  other  reformers,  "itin- 
erant preachers  .'"'  He  then  quoted  from  the  appendix  to 
Baxter's  Reformed  Pastor,  a  plan  which  had  been  adopted 
in  some  parts  of  England,  for  circular  lectures,  by  settled 
ministers  selected  for  the  purpose,  and  with  the  consent  of 
31  * 


366  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

the  pastors.  As  to  the  "  hot  men  "  that  came  after  him,  he 
knew  not  who  they  were,  and  ought  not  to  be  held  accounta- 
ble for  their  conduct.  He  then  quoted  from  Holyoke's  Con- 
vention sermon,  and  from  their  Testimony  itself,  evidence 
that  his  labors  had  been  useful.  His  eloquent  conclusion 
must  be  given  entire. 

"Gentlemen,  I  profess  myself  a  Calvinist  as  to  principle,  and  preach 
no  other  doctrines  than  those  which  your  pious  ancestors  and  the 
founders  of  Harvard  College  preached  long  before  I  was  born.  And 
I  am  come  to  New  England  with  no  intention  to  meddle  with,  much 
less  to  destroy,  the  New  England  churches,  or  turn  out  the  generality 
of  their  ministers,  or  settle  them  with  ministers  from  England,  Scot- 
land or  Ireland,  as  hath  been  hinted  in  a  late  letter  written  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Clapp,  Rector  of  Yale  College.  Such  a  thought  never  en- 
tered my  heart;  neither,  as  I  know  of,  has  my  preaching  the  least  ten- 
dency thereunto.  I  am  determined  to  know  nothing  among  you,  but 
Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  I  have  no  intention  of  setting  up  a 
party  for  myself,  or  to  stir  up  people  against  their  pastors.  Had  not 
illness  prevented,  I  had  some  weeks  ago  departed  out  of  your  coasts. 
But  as  it  is  not  a  season  of  the  year  for  me  to  undertake  a  very  long 
journey,  and  I  have  reason  to  think  the  great  God  blesses  my  poor 
labors,  I  think  it  my  duty  to  comply  with  the  invitations  that  are  sent 
me,  and,  as  I  am  enabled,  to  be  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
and  to  preach  among  poor  sinners  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 
This  indeed  I  delight  in.  It  is  my  meat  and  my  drink.  This  I  think 
I  may  do,  as  a  minister  of  the  King  of  kings,  and  a  subject  of  his 
present  Majesty,  King  George,  upon  whose  royal  head  I  pray  God  the 
crown  may  long  flourish.  And  as  I  have  a  right  to  preach,  so,  I  hum- 
bly apprehend,  the  people,  as  Christians,  as  men,  and  New  England 
men  in  particular,  have  a  right  to  invite  and  hear.  If  the  pulpits 
should  be  shut,  blessed  be  God,  the  fields  are  open,  and  I  can  go  with- 
out the  camp,  bearing  the  Redeemer's  sacred  reproach.  This  I  am  used 
to,  and  glory  in;  believing  that  if  I  suffer  for  it,  I  shall  suffer  for 
righteousness'  sake.  At  the  same  time  I  desire  to  be  humbled,  and 
ask  public  pardon  for  any  rash  words  I  have  dropped,  or  any  thing  I 
have  written  or  done  amiss.  This  leads  me  also  to  ask  forgiveness, 
Gentlemen,  if  I  have  done  you  or  your  society  any  wrong.  Be  pleased 
to  accept  unfeigned  thanks  for  all  tokens  of  respect  you  showed  me 
when  here  last.  And  if  you  have  injured  me  in  the  Testimony  you 
have  published  against  me  and  my  conduct,  (as  I  think,  to  say  no  more, 
you  really  have,)  it  is  already  forgiven,  without  asking." 

This  by  no  means  satisfied  the  Faculty.  It  was  soon  an- 
swered by  Prof.  Wigglesworth  ;  and  even  as  late  as  Novem- 
ber, 1754,  when  Whitefield  was  again  in  the  country,  and 
preached  at  Cambridge,  Wigglesworth  followed  his  preach- 
ing with  two  lectures,  on  "  The  Ordinary  and  Extraordinary 
Ministers  of  the  Church,"  in  which,  and  in  the  notes  ap- 
pended,  the   same   doctrines   are   advanced    and  the  same 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  367 

charges  are  brought  as  in  the  Testimony  ;  and  what  is  still 
more,  the  charges  of  bad  intentions,  brought  by  the  Faculty 
of  Yale  College,  are  endorsed.  Yet  his  persevering  kind- 
ness was  at  length  acknowledged.  Tn  1764,  he  solicited  do- 
nations of  books  for  their  library,  lately  destroyed  by  fire. 
Four  years  afterwards,  while  Holyoke  was  still  President, 
the  following  minute  was  entered  on  their  records  : 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  College, 
August  22,  1768,  the  Rev.  G.  Whitefield  having,  in  addition  to  his 
former  kindness  to  Harvard  College,  lately  presented  to  the  library  a 
new  edition  of  his  Journals,  and  having  procured  large  benefactions 
from  several  benevolent  and  respectable  gentlemen;  Voted,  that  the 
thanks  of  the  Corporation  be  given  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield,  for 
these  instances  of  candor  and  generosity." 

The  "Declaration"  of  the  Faculty  of  Yale  College  was 
dated  February  25,  1745.  After  endorsing  the  Testimonies 
of  the  Faculty  of  Harvard  College  and  of  four  Associations 
near  Boston,  they  "think  it  proper  more  largely  to  insist 
upon  two  things." 

"  First,  it  has  always  appeared  to  us,  that  you  and  other  itinerants 
have  laid  a  scheme  to  turn  the  generality  of  ministers  out  of  their 
places,  and  to  introduce  a  new  set,  of  such  as  should  be  in  a  peculiar 
manner  attached  to  you ;  and  this  you  would  effect  by  prejudicing  the 
minds  of  people  against  their  ministers,  and  thereby  induce  them  to 
discard  them  or  separate  from  them.  And  this  appears  to  us,  1.  Be- 
cause the  principles  which  you  and  the  other  itinerants  laid  down,  did 
naturally  and  necessarily  produce  this  effect ;  which  are  these  : 

"  1.  That  the  generality  of  ministers  are  unconverted.  2.  That  all 
unconverted  ministers  are  half  beasts  and  half  devils,  and  can  no  more 
be  the  means  of  any  man's  conversion,  than  a  dead  man  can  beget 
living  children.  — Upon  the  publication  of  these  principles,  people  are 
filled  with  the  greatest  prejudices  against  their  ministers,  and  a  multi- 
tude of  separations  immediately  and  necessarily  followed. 

"  II.  This  consequence,  that  people  should  discard  or  separate  from 
their  ministers,  not  only  necessarily  and  in  fact  follows  from  the  fore- 
going principles,  but  it  was  also  intended  and  designed.  These 
two  principles,  that  the  generality  of  ministers  are  unconverted,  and 
that  they  are  such  baneful  and  pernicious  men  as  you  have  declared, 
when  discharged  among  the  multitude,  and  received  into  their  minds, 
do  as  naturally  and  necessarily  tend  to  make  them  discard  their  minis- 
ters, as  a  brace  of  bullets  discharged  into  their  hearts  has  to  take  away 
their  natural  lives.  It  is  utterly  inconceivable  to  us,  that  men  should 
from  time  to  time  zealously  propagate  such  principles,  and  yet  never 
design  or  think  that  they  should  have  any  such  effect." 

They  quote  his  solemn  declarations  to  Dr.  Chauncy  and 
the  Faculty  of  Harvard  College,  that  he  had  no  such  design  ; 
but  they  tell  him  plainly  that  they  do  not  believe  him,  and 


368  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

that  fairness  and  consistency  require  him  freely  to  own  his 
design.  Then  they  infer,  that  if  all  unconverted  ministers 
are  to  be  discarded,  a  new  supply  must  be  introduced.  This 
supply  cannot  come  from  the  colleges,  because  "  the  light 
in  thera  is  but  darkness."  It  must  therefore  consist  either 
of  exhorters,  or  foreigners. 

"You  publicly  told  the  people  in  New  England,  that  they  might  ex- 
pect, in  a  little  time,  some  supply  from  your  orphan  house  ;  and  you 
told  the  Rev.  Mr.  Edwards,  of  Northampton,  that  you  intended  to 
bring  over  a  number  of  young  men  from  England,  to  be  ordained  by 
the  Tennents,  Whether  any  were  to  come  from  Scotland  or  Ireland, 
we  think,  is  not  material.  And  it  has  been  the  constant  practice  of 
the  Tennents,  and  their  Presbytery,  of  late  years,  to  send  ministers  to 
supply  the  separations  in  New  England  ;  particularly  Messrs.  Finley, 
Sacket,  Blair,  Treat,  and  sundry  others,  to  preach  to  the  separations 
at  Milford,  New  Haven,  &c.,  and  some  of  them  showed  written  orders 
for  it,  from  that  Presbytery.  Yea,  so  violently  were  they  engaged  to 
supply  us  with  their  ministers,  that  they  would  do  it  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  government.  Thus  the  scheme  ap- 
pears to  us  evident  in  every  part  of  it,  both  from  the  principles  you 
have  laid  down,  and  by  the  constant  endeavours  from  time  to  time  to 
put  it  in  practice." 

The  other  thing  which  they  thought  proper  "  more  largely 
to  insist  upon,"  was  his  supposed  "  scheme  to  vilify  and  sub- 
vert our  colleges,  and  to  introduce  a  set  of  ministers  into 
our  churches  by  other  ways  and  means  of  education."  In 
proof  of  this,  they  quote  his  description  of  the  state  of  the 
colleges,  and  Gilbert  Tennent's  assertion,  that  the  public 
academies  were  "  corrupted,"  and  recommendation  of  pri- 
vate seminaries,  "  under  the  care  of  skilful  and  experienced 
Christians."  They  assert,  that  "  soon  after  the  publication 
of  these  slanders  upon  the  colleges,  this  was  upon  several 
accounts  in  a  worse  state  than  it  was  before.  Sundry  of  the 
students  ran  into  enthusiastic  errors  and  disorders,  censured 
and  reviled  their  governors  and  others  ;  for  which  some  were 
expelled,  denied  their  degrees,  or  otherwise  punished  ;  and 
some  withdrew  to  that  thing  called  "  The  Shepherd's  Tent."* 

*  Backus,  (Eccl.  Hist.  N.  E-  Vol.  II.  page  14-5,)  after  giving  an  account  of 
Davenport's  arrest  in  Connecticut,  his  examination  at  Hartford,  and  his  ex- 
pulsion from  the  colony,adds  :  —  "  Separations  were  hereby  caused  at  New 
London,  New  Haven,  and  Milford."  "And  it  was  inii)resscd  on  sundry 
minds,  that  they  must  go  forth  their  way,  and  erect  a  Shepherd's  Tent  at 
New  London,  to  educate  persons  in  for  the  ministry.  Such  a  school  was 
therefore  opened,  to  which  a  number  resorted,  wherein  Alien  presided." 
This  Allen  was  the  same  who  had  been  censured  for  comparing  the  Bible 
to  an  old  almanac. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  369 

They  quote  another  of  his  solemn  disclaimers  in  his  letter  to 
Dr.  Chauncy,  say  plainly  that  they  do  not  believe  it,  and 
conclude  by  exhorting  ministers  and  churches  to  avoid  him, 
as  one  of  those  that  "  cause  divisions  and  offences." 

Meanwhile,  Whitefield  was  preaching  at  Boston,  and  mak- 
ing excursions  in  the  vicinity.  The  Evening  Post  of 
March  11,  said,  "  Prince,  Webb,  Foxcroft  and  Gee  are  the 
directors  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  public  conduct,  as  he  himself 
has  lately  declared  at  Newbury."  He  had  other  powerful 
friends  among  the  clergy,  and  still  more  among  the  laity, 
who  invited  him  by  vote  into  some  pulpits,  where  the  pas- 
tors were  "shy  "  of  him.  His  friends  in  Boston  offered  to 
build  for  him  "the  largest  place  of  worship  ever  seen  in 
America,"  but  he  declined.  Lectures  were  proposed  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  He  complied,  and  had  audien- 
ces of  two  or  three  thousands.  There  were  "  movings  " 
and  "  meltings"  under  his  preaching  as  formerly,  and  some 
interesting  cases  of  conversion  ;  but  there  was  no  revival,  in 
the  present  technical  sense  of  that  word.  People  heard, 
and  were  affected  ;  but  there  was  no  spreading  among  the 
impenitent,  as  if  by  sympathy,  or  by  a  simultaneous  impres- 
sion on  all,  of  those  views  which  constitute  conviction  of 
sin.  Nor  ought  any  thing  else  to  have  been  expected. 
Both  ministers  and  people  were  thinking  too  much  about  the 
man,  to  profit  by  his  preaching. 

February  7,  he  was  at  Ipswich,  where  he  spent  some  days- 
Mr.  Pickering,  of  the  Second  Church,  declined  admitting 
him  to  his  pulpit,  and  assigned  his  reasons  in  a  letter,  which 
was  published.  It  contains  the  usual  objections  set  forth  in 
the  various  "  Testimonies,"  and  is  remarkable  only  for  one 
convenient  metaphor.  The  Bishop  of  London  had  publish- 
ed something  concerning  "  Lukewarmness  and  Enthusi- 
asm." Whitefield  had  said  in  reply,  "all  ought  to  be  thank- 
ful to  that  pilot,  who  will  teach  them  to  steer  a  safe  and  middle 
course."  Pickering  asks,  "  But  what  if  the  pilot  should 
take  the  vane  for  the  compass  ?" 

Early  in  March,  he  made  another  excursion  to  the  East, 
as  far  at  least  as  Berwick,  in  IMaine.  About  the  middle  of 
the  month  he  was  at  Exeter.  Here  some  of  the  more 
zealous  members  of  the  church  had  withdrawn,  and  formed  a 
new  church.  As  already  related,  their  act  had  been  sanc- 
tioned by  one  council,  and  censured  by  another,  the  last  of 


370  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

which  met  in  January,  1743.*  Whitefield  preached  to  them 
twice,  though  Mr.  Odhn,  the  pastor  of  the  church  from 
which  they  had  withdrawn,  "  solemnly  warned  and  charged 
him  against  preaching  in  his  parish."!  In  the  newspaper 
account,  those  to  whom  he  preached  are  called  "  Separa- 
tists." Odlin  evidently  claimed  a  right  to  control  their  hear- 
ing the  gospel,  and  the  Evening  Post  sustained  his  claim. 
The  Post  :j:  was  the  favorite  organ  of  the  party  opposed  to 
the  revival.  The  affair  throws  some  light  on  the  character 
of  the  "separations,"  and  of  the  complaints  concerning 
them. 

This  spring  the  celebrated  expedition  against  Cape  Breton 
was  undertaken.  Col.  Pepperell,  a  devoted  friend  and  con- 
stant hearer  of  Whitefield,  was  chosen  to  the  command. 
Mr.  Sherburne,  another  of  his  friends,  at  whose  house  he 
often  lodged,  was  appointed  commissary.  Sherburne  said 
that  Whitefield  must  favor  the  expedition,  or  the  serious  peo- 
ple would  not  enlist.  He  also  requested  a  motto  for  his  flag. 
This  Whitefield  refused  to  furnish,  as  it  would  be  out  of 
character.  But  Sherburne's  importunity  finally  prevailed, 
and  he  gave,  "  JViZ  desperandum,  Christo  duce  ;''^  Fear 
nothings  while  Christ  is  leader  ;  upon  which  great  numbers 
enlisted.  Some  of  the  "aggrieved  brethren"  at  Chebacco, 
who  separated  from  Mr.  Pickering,  seem  to  have  been 
among  the  number.  Whitefield  preached  to  the  troops  be- 
fore their  departure  ;  but  he  excused  himself  from  going  as 
their  chaplain,  by  saying  he  thought  he  might  be  more  useful 
by  stirring  up  the  people  to  pray  for  their  success.  In  about 
six  weeks,  news  came  that  Louisburgh  had  surrendered,  and 
Whitefield  preached  a  thanksgiving  sermon  for  the  victory. 
The  fall  of  Louisburgh,  "  the  Gibraltar  of  America,"  aston- 
ished Europe  ;  and  the  boldness,  the  persevering  energy  and 
military  talent  displayed  by  this  little  army  of  the  Colonies, 
in  doing,  without  the  aid  they  had  requested,  what  the  most 
able  warriors  thought  scarce  possible  to  be  done  by  any 
force,  procured  the  honor  of  knighthood  for  the  commander, 
and  the  most  lavish  commendations  for  all  engaged  in  the 
enterprise.     Whatever  may  be   thought  of  their   views    of 

»  Result  of  Council  at  Exeter,  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 
t  Eve.  Post,  March  25, 1745. 

t  "  Tom  Fleet's  paper,"  as  Fleet  said  the  revivalists  called  it,  by  way  of 
contempt. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  371 

Christian  duty  in  respect  to  war,  the  result  shows  that  the 
subjects  of  this  great  revival  were  not  weak-minded  men, 
even  after  their  conversion. 

After  a  visit  to  the  south,  Whitefield  was  again  in  Boston 
in  July.  In  August,  he  was  again  at  Philadelphia.  He  re- 
mained in  the  Middle  and  Southern  Colonies,  till  he  em- 
barked, March  15,  1748,  for  Bermuda,  which  he  left  early 
in  June  for  England.  He  visited  New  England  again  in 
1754,  again  in  1764,  and  finally  in  1770,  when  he  died,  on 
the  Sabbath  morning,  September  30,  at  Newburyport,  and 
was  buried,  according  to  his  own  desire,  in  front  of  the  pul- 
pit of  his  friend  Parsons,  formerly  of  Lyme,  but  now  pastor 
of  a  church  here,  which  the  revival  had  called  into  existence. 

An  encomium  on  his  virtues  and  his  labors,  his  piety  and 
his  eloquence,  would  be  in  place  here,  but  is  needless. 
They  are  well  known  to  all  men.  It  is  more  to  the  purpose 
of  this  work,  to  transcribe  the  testimony  which  convinced 
the  Synod  of  Glasgow,  in  Scotland,  October  6,  1748  ;  sup- 
posed to  have  been  published  originally  by  Dr.  Erskine  of 
Kirkintillock,  but  preserved  and  endorsed  by  Gillies. 

A  motion  had  been  made,  tending  to  prohibit  or  discour- 
age ministers  from  employing  Mr.  Whitefield,  and  some 
speeches  were  made  in  its  support.  It  was  said  in  reply, 
among  other  things,  that  "  with  regard  to  his  imprudences, 
there  is  a  great  difference  between  blunders  owing  to  a  bad 
heart,  and  those  that  are  owing  only  to  a  misinformed  judg- 
ment ;  especially  when  the  mistakes  that  occasioned  them, 
have  misled  several  great  and  good  men.  Whether  Mr. 
Whitefield's  scheme  of  an  orphan  house  be  prudent  or  not, 
it  is  demonstrable  that  it  was  honestly  meant.  The  magis- 
trates of  Savannah  published,  three  years  ago,  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Gazette,  an  affidavit  that  they  had  carefully  examined 
Mr.  Whitefield's  receipts  and  disbursements,  and  found  that 
what  he  had  collected  in  behalf  of  the  orphans,  had  been 
honestly  applied,  and  that  besides,  he  had  given  considerably 
to  them  of  his  own  property.  As  to  his  maintaining  that 
assurance  is  essential  to  faith,  encouraging  an  unwarrantable 
regard  to  impressions,  and  being  too  hasty  in  pronouncing 
men  carnal  or  converted,  his  sentiments  in  these  particulars 
have  been  altered  for  upwards  of  two  years  ;  and  now  he 
scarce  preaches  a  sermon,  without  guarding  his  hearers 
against  relying  on  impressions,  and  telling  them  that  faith  and 


372  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

a  persuasion  that  we  are  justified  are  very  different  things,  and 
that  a  holy  Hfe  is  the  best  evidence  of  a  gracious  state. 
These  retractions  are  owing  to  a  real  change  of  sentiment. 
Letters  from  correspondents  in  New  England  show,  that  this 
change  is  at  least  of  two  years'  date,  and  that  ever  since  it 
happened,  he  has  preached  and  acted  with  remarkable  cau- 
tion." The  motion  was  rejected,  by  a  vote  of  forty-seven 
to  thirteen,  and  such  as  chose  to  invite  him  into  their  pulpits, 
never  afterwards  met  with  any  molestation. 

This  witness  is  true,  and  is  confirmed  by  other  testimony. 
Gillespie,  of  Carnock,  wrote  to  Edwards,  September  19, 
174S  :  "  I  was  glad  to  hear  you  write,  that  he  [Whitefield] 
labored  with  success  in  New  England,  in  rectifying  mistakes 
he  had  favored,  about  intimations  made  by  the  Lord  to  his 
people,  &c.,  and  heartily  wish  he  may  be  directed  to  apply 
an  antidote  here,  where  it  is  also  needed."  Though  right  in 
the  main  from  the  beginning  of  his  ministry,  his  early  errors 
had  been  great,  and  nowhere  had  they  shown  themselves 
more  prominently,  or  produced  more  injurious  efiects,  than 
in  New  England.  His  second  visit,  in  1744,  was  made 
while  he  was  in  the  process  of  recovery  from  them,  and  was 
doubtless  a  means  of  hastening  its  completion.  The  perfect 
vindication  of  his  character  for  pecuniary  honesty,  furnished  by 
the  magistrates  of  Savannah,  came  out  in  1745,  —  after  that 
visit.  For  the  remainder  of  his  life,  the  faults  of  his  character 
were  like  the  spots  on  the  sun  ;  detected,  without  much  diffi- 
culty, by  the  cool  and  careful  observer  who  takes  pains  to 
look  for  them  ;  but,  to  all  practical  purposes,  lost  in  one  gen- 
eral and  genial  effulgence. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 


The  Revival  continued  at  the  South.  — The  Presbyterian  Synods.  — 
The  Rise  of  Presbyterianism  in  Virginia.  —  Whiteficld's  labors  in  ihe 
Southern  Colonies.  —  The  healing  of  the  "  Great  Schism." 

The  protest  of  1741,*  failed  entirely  to  answer  its  most 
important  purpose, —  that  of  preventing  the  intrusions  of 
Tennent  and  his  friends   into  the  congregations  of  their  op- 

*  See  Chapter  V. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  373 

posers.  As  should  have  been  foreseen,  they  felt  that,  having 
been  cast  out  of  the  communion  of  the  Synod,  they  were  no 
longer  under  any  kind  of  ecclesiastical  obligation  to  regard 
the  ministerial  authority  of  those  vi'ho  had  excluded  them  ; 
but  were  at  perfect  liberty  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  who 
might  apply  for  it,  without  the  least  regard  to  the  Synod  or 
its  members.  The  same  impression  was  made  on  all  who 
desired  their  labors  ;  and  on  the  second  day  after  the  schism, 
the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  received  applications  for 
supplies  of  preaching  from  eighteen  or  twenty  places,  most 
of  which  were  beyond  their  bounds,  and  from  fragments  of 
old  congregations,  under  the  pastoral  or  presbyterial  care 
of  their  opposers.  It  was  resolved  to  send  preachers  to 
them  all,  as  far  as  practicable.*  They  divided  their  Pres- 
bytery into  two,  which  held  a  united  meeting  annually,  by  the 
name  of  the  "  Conjunct  Presbytery."  They  were  joined  by 
several  who  had  not  been  excluded  by  the  "  Protestation." 
It  is  evident  from  the  results  which  appeared  in  subsequent 
years,  that  they  continued  their  efforts  for  the  diffusion  of 
piety  ;  though  little  is  known  of  the  details  of  their  labors 
and  success,  beyond  what  is  contained  in  the  letters  of  the 
Tennents,  Blair  and  Dickinson,  which  have  been  given  in  a 
preceding  chapter,  and  their  labors  in  Virginia,  which  will 
soon  be  noticed.  A  church  was  formed  in  Philadelphia  in 
1743,  and  Gilbert  Tennent  became  its  pastor.  At  its  first 
communion,  in  May,  1744,  the  number  of  communicants 
was  more  than  one  hundred  and  forty,  nearly  all  of  whom 
were  fruits  of  the  revival. 

The  members  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  refused, 
from  the  first,  to  acknowledge  the  legality  of  the  Protest  by 
which  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  had  been  excluded  from 
the  Synod.  After  several  vain  attempts  to  have  it  set  aside, 
they  withdrew  from  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  formed 
the  Synod  of  New  York,  which  held  its  first  meeting  at 
Elizabethtown,  September  19,  1745.  It  included  the  Pres- 
bytery of  New  York,  and  all  the  members  of  the  "  Conjunct 
Presbytery,"  and  was  decidedly  superior  to  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia,  not  only  in  active  piety,  but  in  numbers,  tal- 
ents, and  weight  of  character.!  What  the  New  York  breth- 
ren thought  of  the  revival,  may  be    gathered    from  the  fact, 

»  Prof.  Hodge,  Const.  Hist.  Vol.  II.  page  197.        f  Ibid.  254. 

32 


374  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

that  Dickinson  and  Pemberton  were  leading  members  ;  and 

still  further  from  the    following    passage   in  their  Protest  to 

the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  May  29,  1742. 

"  We  protest  against  all  those  passages  in  any  of  the  pamphlets 
which  have  been  published  in  these  parts,  which  seem  to  reflect  upon 
the  work  of  divine  power  and  grace  which  has  been  carrying  on  in 
so  wonderful  a  manner  in  many  of  our  congregations  ;  and  declare  to 
all  the  world,  that  we  look  upon  it  to  be  the  indispensable  duty  of  all 
our  ministers  to  encourage  that  glorious  work,  with  their  most  faithful 
and  diligent  endeavours.  And  in  like  manner,  we  protest  and  declare 
against  all  divisive  and  irregular  methods  and  practices  by  which  the 
peace  and  good  order  of  our  churches  have  been  broken  in  upon." 

At  their  first  meeting,  the  Rev.  William  Robinson  was 
appointed  to  spend  some  months  in  missionary  labors  among 
the  rising  congregations  in  Virginia.  As  these  had  been 
brought  into  existence  by  this  revival,  a  brief  account  of  their 
origin  will  be  in  place.  It  is  taken  from  a  letter  written, 
June  28,  1751,  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  afterwards 
President  of  the  College  at  Princeton,  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Bellamy  of  Bethlem,  Ct.,  who  had  requested  the  infor- 
mation.* 

"  I  hope  I  may  observe  without  the  umbrage  of  calumny, 
what  glares  with  irresistible  evidence  on  the  eyes  of  the  seri- 
ous of  all  denominations  among  us,  that  religion  has  been, 
and  in  most  parts  of  the  colony  still  is,  in  a  very  low  state. 
A  surprising  negligence  appears  in  attending  on  public  wor- 
ship, and  an  equally  surprising  levity  and  unconcernedness 
in  those  that  attend.  Family  religion  is  a  rarity  ;  and  a  sol- 
emn solicitude  about  eternal  things  is  still  a  greater.  Vices 
of  various  kinds  are  triumphant,  and  even  a  form  of  godliness 
is  not  common.  The  clergy  universally,  as  far  as  my  intelli- 
gence extends,  have  embraced  the  modish  system  of  Armi- 
nian  divinity,  (though  I  allow  myself  the  pleasure  to  hope 
there  are  sundry  conscientious  persons  among  them,)  and  the 
Calvinistic,  or  rather  Pauline  articles  of  their  own  church  are 
counted  horrendous  and  insufferable.  But  I  suppose  that 
universal  fame  has  superseded  my  information  ;  and  therefore 
I  willingly  exem))t  myself  from  the  disagreeable  task. 

"  I.  cannot  find  there  has  been  a  dissenting  minister  settled 
in  Virginia,  till  lately,  since  its  first  plantation.  You  no 
doubt  remember  what  Dr.  Mather,  and  Mr.  Neal  from  him, 
relate  of  the  sending  of  Messrs.  James,  Knowles  and  Thom- 

*  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING  375 

son  into  it  from  New  England,  at  the  invitation  of  sundry  of 
its  inhabitants,  above  a  hundred  years  ago  ;  and  of  their  be- 
ing compelled  to  depart  the  colony  by  the  Governor's  order, 
after  preaching  a  few  sermons  :  since  which  there  have  been 
hardly  any  attempts  made  to  obtain  such  ministers  till  a  (ew 
years  ago  ;  and  many  of  the  poj)ulace  knew  little  or  nothing 
of  any  denomination,  but  that  in  which  they  have  been  edu- 
cated. 

"  I  have  reason  to  hope.  Sir,  there  are  and  have  been  a 
few  names  in  various  parts  of  the  colony,  who  are  sincerely 
seeking;  the  Lord,  and  groping  after  religion,  in  the  commun- 
ion of  the  Church  of  England  ;  which  I  charitably  presume 
from  my  finding  there  were  a  few  of  this  happy  character  in 
and  about  Hanover  before  the  late  revival  of  religion.  Such 
were  awakened,  as  they  have  told  me,  either  by  their  own 
serious  reflections,  suggested  and  enforced  by  divine  energy, 
or  on  reading  some  authors  of  the  last  century,  particularly 
Bolton,  Baxter,  Flavel,  Bunyan,  &c.  Some  of  them  were 
wont  to  attend  on  public  worship  in  the  established  church, 
without  much  murmuring  at  the  entertainments  there  ;  though 
they  were  sensible  these  were  vastly  inferior  to  what  past  ages 
were  favored  with,  and  often  wondered  if  there  were  such 
doctrines  taught  any  where  in  the  world  at  present,  as  they 
found  in  the  writings  of  these  good  men.  Others  of  them, 
though  they  had  no  objections  against  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Church  of  England,  except  a  few,  who  were  shocked  at  the  im- 
practicable obligations  imposed  upon  the  sponsors  in  baptism, 
were  utterly  dissatisfied  with  the  usual  doctrines  taught  from 
the  pulpit.  'I'hough  these  were  generally  true,  and  would  have 
been  useful,  in  their  connexion  with  the  scheme  of  evangel- 
ical doctrines  ;  yet  so  many  necessary  truths  were  neglected, 
as  rendered  those  that  were  inculcated  of  very  little  service. 
The  whole  system  of  what  is  distinguished  by  the  name  ofex- 
perimental  religion,  was  passed  over  in  silence.  The  depravity 
of  human  nature,  the  necessity  of  regeneration,  and  its  prere- 
quisites, nature  and  effects,  the  various  exercises  of  pious 
souls  according  to  their  several  cases,  &c.  these  were  omit- 
ted ;  and  without  these,  you  know,  Sir,  the  finest  declama- 
tions on  moral  duties  or  speculative  truths  will  be  but 
wretched  entertainment  to  hungry  souls. 

"  The  few  that  professed  a  dissatisfaction  with  the  general 
strain  of  preaching  in   church,  and  therefore  either  absented 


376  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

themselves,  or  attended  with  murmuring  and  reluctance, 
were  generally  counted  whimsical  creatures,  and  hypocritical 
affectors  of  singularity.  And  indeed  they  could  not  but  own 
their  sentiments  singular  ;  for  they  knew  of  none  in  the 
present  age  of  the  same  mind  with  them  ;  and  therefore  had 
no  prospect  of  obtaining  a  minister  to  preach  to  them  those 
doctrines  they  thirsted  for.  Their  notions,  as  far  as  I  can 
learn,  were  sound  in  the  main,  though  intermixed  with  some 
corrupt  notions  verging  towards  Antinomianism,  the  opposite 
extreme  to  that  they  had  left.  And  though  this  rendered 
them  more  odious  to  their  adversaries,  and  furnished  them 
with  occasions  more  plausibly  to  expose  them  ;  yet,  consid- 
ering their  circumstances,  as  being  destitute  of  a  judicious 
minister  to  instruct  them  in  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and 
caution  them  against  mistakes  ;  and  as  laboring  under  the  pre- 
judices of  education,  and  transported  with  the  sallies  of  their 
first  zeal,  which  is  generally  imprudent  and  wild  ;  I  am  more 
surprised  at  their  soundness  and  regularity  in  most  things, 
than  at  their  mistakes  and  extravagances  in  a  few. 

"  In  this  case  about  ten  or  twelve  persons,  who  are  now 
members  of  my  congregation,  had  been  for  some  time 
before  the  revival  of  religion  which  began  in  the  year  1743. 
One  Mr.  Samuel  Morris,  (for  I  am  not  ashamed  publicly  to 
mention  his  name,  notwithstanding  the  calumnies  flung  upon 
it  by  many,)  a  person  of  a  forward,  sociable  spirit,  who  had 
for  some  time  been  extremely  anxious  about  his  eternal  state, 
and  unweariedly  seeking  relief  by  all  means  within  his  reach, 
at  length  obtained  a  discovery  of  that  glorious  method  of  sal- ' 
vation  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  which  sinners  from  all  the 
ends  of  the  earth  look,  and  are  saved,  and  where  they  uni- 
versally agree  to  fix  all  their  hopes,  notwithstanding  the  great 
diversity  of  their  circumstances  as  to  situation,  education, 
outward  instruction,  &c.  The  distinct  relation  he  has  given 
me  of  his  exercises  at  that  time  and  since,  and  the  prevailing 
piety  of  his  common  behaviour,  leave  me  no  room  to  be  anx- 
ious about  the  sincerity  of  his  religion  ;  though,  as  it  is  com- 
mon in  such  cases,  his  former  pious  zeal  to  do  good,  with  a 
few  very  pardonable  imprudences  that  attended  it,  have  fixed 
an  indelible  odium  on  his  character  among  many  who  opposed 
the  religious  concern  he  attempted  to  promote.  After  this 
discovery  of  the  gospel,  his  soul  was  anxious  for  the  salvation 
of  his  neighbours,  and  inflamed  with  zeal  to   use  means  to 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  377 

awaken  them.  This  was  the  tendency  of  his  conversation  ; 
and  he  also  read  to  tiiem  such  authors  as  had  been  most  use- 
ful to  him,  particularly  Luther's  Comment  upon  the  Galatians, 
which  first  opened  to  him  the  way  of  justification  through 
Christ  alone,  and  his  Table  Discourses  ;  sundry  pieces  of 
honest  Bunyan's,  &.c.  By  those  means,  a  few  of  his  neigh- 
bours were  made  more  thoughtful  about  religion  than  usual, 
and  doubtful  they  had  lived  till  then  in  a  careless  ignorance 
of  it  ;  but  the  concern  was  not  very  extensive. 

"  I  have  prevailed.  Sir,  on  my  good  friend  before  men- 
tioned, who  was  the  principal  private  instrument  of  promot- 
ing the  late  work,  and  therefore  well  acquainted  with  it,  to 
write  me  a  narrative  of  its  rise  and  progress  from  this  period 
till  my  settlement  here  ;  and  this,  together  with  the  substance 
of  what  he  and  others  have  told  me,  I  shall  present  to  you 
without  any  material  alterations,  and  personate  him,  though  I 
shall  not  exactly  use  his  words. 

"  '  The  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  had  been  in  Virginia,  1 
think,  in  the  year  1740,  and  at  the  invitation  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Blair,  our  late  Commissary,  had  preached  in  Williams- 
burg, our  metropolis,  about  sixty  miles  from  Hanover.  His 
fame  was  much  spread  abroad,  as  a  very  warm  and  alarming 
preacher  ;  which  made  such  of  us  in  Hanover  as  had  been 
awakened,  very  eager  to  see  and  hear  him  ;  but  as  he  left 
the  colony  before  we  heard  of  him,  we  had  no  opportunity. 
But  in  the  year  1743,  a  young  gentleman  arrived  from  Scot- 
land with  a  book  of  his  sermons  preached  in  Glasgow,  and 
taken  from  his  mouth  in  short  hand,  which  with  difficulty  I 
procured.  After  I  had  read  it  with  great  liking  and  benefit, 
I  invited  my  neighbors  to  come  and  hear  it ;  and  the  plain- 
ness, popularity  and  fervency  of  the  discourses  being  pecu- 
liarly fitted  to  affect  our  unimproved  minds,  and  the  Lord 
rendering  the  word  efficacious,  many  were  convinced  of  their 
undone  condition,  and  constrained  to  seek  deliverance  with 
the  greatest  solicitude.  A  considerable  number  convened 
every  Sabbath  to  hear  these  sermons,  instead  of  going  to 
church,  and  frequently  on  week  days.  The  concern  of 
some  was  so  passionate  and  violent,  that  they  could  not  avoid 
crying  out,  weeping  bitterly,  &c.,  and  that  when  such  indica- 
tions of  religious  concern  were  so  strange  and  ridiculous,  that 
they  could  not  be  occasioned  by  example  or  sympathy,  and 
the  affectation  of  them  would  have  been  so  unprofitable  an 
32* 


378  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

instance  of  hypocrisy,  that  none  could  be  tempted  to  it. 
My  dwellinghouse  at  length  was  too  small  to  contain  the 
people  ;  whereupon  we  determined  to  build  a  meetinghouse, 
merely  for  reading  ;  for  we  knew  of  no  minister  in  the  world 
whom  we  could  get  to  preach  to  us  according  to  our  liking  ; 
and  having  never  been  accustomed  to  social  extempore  pray- 
er, none  of  us  durst  attempt  it  in  company.  By  this  single 
mean,  sundry  were  solemnly  awakened,  and  their  conduct 
ever  since  is  a  living  attestation  of  the  continuance  and  happy 
issue  of  their  impressions.  When  the  report  of  these  ser- 
mons and  the  effects  occasioned  by  reading  them  was  spread 
abroad,  I  was  invited  to  several  places  to  read  them,  at  a 
considerable  distance  ;  and  by  this  means  the  concern  was 
propagated. 

"  '  About  this  time,  our  absenting  ourselves  from  church, 
contrary,  as  was  alleged,  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  was  taken 
notice  of;  and  we  were  called  upon  by  the  court,  to  assign 
our  reasons  for  it,  and  to  declare  what  denomination  we  were 
of.  As  we  knew  but  little  of  any  denomination  of  dissenters, 
except  Quakers,  we  were  at  a  loss  what  name  to  assume. 
At  length,  recollecting  that  Luther  was  a  noted  reformer, 
and  that  his  doctrines  were  agreeable  to  our  sentiments,  and 
had  been  of  special  service  to  us,  we  declared  ourselves  Lu- 
therans ;  and  thus  we  continued  till  Providence  afforded  us 
an  unexpected  opportunity  of  hearing  the  Rev.  Mr.  William 
Robinson.' 

"  Here,  Sir,  it  may  be  proper  for  me  to  lay  aside  the  per- 
son of  my  informer  for  a  while,  and  interrupt  the  connexion 
of  his  relation,  to  give  you  some  account  of  the  travels  and 
successes  of  that  zealous,  faithful  and  laborious  minister  of 
Christ,  the  late  Mr.  Robinson,  whose  dear  memory  will  min- 
gle with  my  softest  and  most  grateful  thoughts,  as  long  as  I 
am  capable  of  reflection.  He  was  in  the  ministry  about  six 
years,  and  never  took  the  charge  of  a  congregation  till  a  few 
months  before  his  happy  and  triumphant  exit.  The  neces- 
sitous circumstances  of  many  vacancies,  and  the  prospects  of 
more  extensive  usefulness,  engaged  him  to  expose  his  shat- 
tered constitution  to  all  the  hardships  and  fatigues  of  almost 
uninterrupted  itinerations  ;  and  it  has  been  my  lot  to  trace 
his  travels  in  sundry  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and 
Virginia ;  and  I  cannot  recollect  one  place  in  which  he  had 
officiated  for  any  time,  where  there  were  not  some  illustrious 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  379 

effects  of  his  ministry.  He  had  a  noble,  disinterested  ambi- 
tion to  preach  the  gospel  where  Christ  was  not  named  ;  and 
therefore,  by  the  permission  of  the  Presbytery,  he  took  a 
journey  through  the  new  settlements  in  Pennsylvania,  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina,  in  which  he  continued  about  two 
years,  oppressed  with  the  usual  difficulties  a  weakly  constitu- 
tion finds  in  travelling  a  wilderness,  and  animated  only  by  his 
glorious  successes.  He  continued  for  some  time  in  Lunen- 
burg, a  county  about  one  hundred  miles  southwest  of  this, 
where,  (as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  observe  more  fully  here- 
after,) a  small  number  of  Presbyterians  from  the  northern 
colonies  were  settled,  intermixed  with  a  number  of  loose 
Virginians  ;  and  there  he  was  the  happy  instrument  of  re- 
claiming many  thoughtless  creatures,  and  founding  a  flourish- 
ing congregation.  In  Amelia  also,  a  county  somewhat  nearer 
this  than  the  former,  his  labors  were  extensively  blessed  ;  and 
while  he  was  there,  or  near  it,  some  of  the  people  in  Hano- 
ver, having  had  some  imperfect  information  of  him,  sent  him 
an  invitation  to  come  and  preach  to  them,  though  they  knew 
very  little  of  his  character  or  method  of  preaching,  only  that 
it  was  uncommon,  and  tended  to  awaken  people.  They  ven- 
tured to  make  an  appointment  for  him  to  preach  at  their  read- 
ing house  (if  I  may  so  call  it)  before  they  received  any 
promise  from  him  by  their  messenger ;  and  with  much  diffi- 
culty he  came  against  the  day  appointed.  Some  of  the  peo- 
ple were  anxious  to  discover  his  principles  privately,  in  the 
morning,  before  he  was  to  preach  ;  but  knew  not  how,  till 
they  fell  upon  the  device  of  asking  his  opinion  of  some  books 
they  approved  of.  Upon  his  declaring  his  approbation  of 
these  tests  of  orthodoxy,  they  were  transported  with  the  most 
pleasing  expectations,  and  with  eager  impatience,  attended 
him  to  the  place  where  he  was  to  preach. 

"I  shall  now  reassume  the  person  of  my  informer,  and 
proceed  in  his  narrative,  'On  the  sixth  of  July,  1743, 
Mr.  Robinson  preached  his  first  sermon  to  us,  from  Luke  13  : 
3,  and  continued  with  us  preaching  four  days  successively. 
The  congregation  was  large  the  first  day  ;  and  as  the  report 
of  him  spread,  it  vastly  increased  on  the  three  ensuing.  It 
is  hard  for  the  liveliest  imagination  to  form  an  image  of  the 
condition  of  the  assembly  on  these  glorious  days  of  the  Son 
of  man.  Such  of  us  as  had  been  hungering  for  the  word  be- 
fore, were  lost  in  an  agreeable  confusion  of  various  passions, 


380  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

surprised,  astonished,  pleased,  enraptured  !  so  that  we  were 
hardly  capable  of  self-government ;  and  some  could  not  re- 
frain from  publicly  declaring  their  transport.  We  were  over- 
whelmed with  the  thoughts  of  the  unexpected  goodness  of 
God,  in  allowing  us  to  hear  the  gospel  preached  in  a  manner 
that  surpassed  even  our  former  wishes,  and  much  more  our 
hopes.  Many  that  came  through  curiosity,  were  pricked  to 
the  heart ;  and  but  few  in  the  numerous  assemblies  on  these 
four  days  appeared  unaffected.  They  returned  astonished, 
alarmed  with  apprehensions  of  their  dangerous  condition, 
convinced  of  their  former  entire  ignorance  of  religion,  and 
anxiously  inquiring,  what  they  should  do  to  be  saved.  And 
there  is  reason  to  believe  there  was  as  much  good  done  by 
these  four  sermons,  as  by  all  the  sermons  preached  in  these 
parts  before  or  since. 

"  '  Before  Mr.  Robinson  left  us,  he  successfully  endeavour- 
ed to  correct  some  of  our  Antinomian  mistakes,  and  to  bring 
us  to  carry  on  the  worship  of  God  more  regularly  at  our 
meetings.  He  advised  us  to  meet  to  read  good  sermons, 
and  to  begin  and  conclude  with  prayer  and  singing  of  Psalms, 
which  till  then  we  had  omitted.*  When  we  next  met,  we 
complied  with  his  directions  ;  and  when  all  the  rest  refused, 
I  read  and  prayed  with  trembling  and  diffidence  ;  which 
method  was  observed  in  sundry  places,  till  we  were  furnished 
with  a  minister.  The  blessing  of  God  remarkably  attended 
these  more  private  means  ;  and  it  was  really  astonishing  to 
observe  the  solemn  impressions  begun  or  continued  in  many, 
by  hearing  good  discourses  read.  I  had  repeated  invitations 
to  come  to  many  places  round,  some  of  them  thirty  or  forty 
miles  distant,  to   read  ;   with   which   I    generally    complied. 

*  When  Mr.  Robinson  took  his  leave,  the  people  offered  him  a  consider- 
able sum  of  money,  as  a  reward  for  his  services.  He  refused  it,  lest  the 
purity  of  his  motives  sliould  be  suspected  ;  which,  in  view  of  the  circum- 
stances of  that  whole  region,  was  probably  judicious.  At  his  first  stopping- 
plpce,  he  found  the  money  in  liis  saddle-bags.  He  immediately  returned 
to  Mr.  Morris,  to  restore  it.  His  friends  were  mortified  that  he  had  come 
solely  to  bring  back  the  money,  and  urged  that  they  knew  not  what  to  do 
with  it,  as  it  had  been  collected  in  small  sums  from  many  donors,  and  could 
not  well  be  returned.  A  new  thought  seemed  to  strike  him.  He  proposed 
to  take  the  money,  and  give  it  to  a  very  promising  young  man,  who  was 
studying  divinity  at  the  north,  and  who  greatly  needed  assistance ;  adding, 
that  when  licensed,  he  should  come  and  be  their  minister.  The  proposal 
was  accepted,  and  the  money  was  given  to  Samuel  Davies.  The  sense  of 
obligation  for  this  assistance  was  what  determined  Davies,  when  licensed,  to 
go  to  Virginia,     .im.  Quart.  Reg.  IX  :  307. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  381 

Considerable  numbers  were  wont  to  attend,  with  eager  atten- 
tion and  awful  solemnity  ;  and  sundry  were,  in  a  judgment  of 
charity,  thoroughly  turned  to  God,  and  thereupon  erected 
meetinghouses,  and  chose  readers  among  themselves,  by 
which  the  work  was  more  extensively  carried  on. 

"  '  Soon  after  our  father,  Mr.  Robinson,  left  us,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  John  Blair  paid  us  a  short  visit ;  and  truly,  he  came  to 
us  in  the  fulness  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Former  impres- 
sions were  ripened,  and  new  formed  on  many  hearts.  One 
night,  in  particular,  a  whole  house  full  of  people  was  quite 
overcome  with  the  power  of  the  word,  particularly  of  one 
pungent  sentence  that  dropped  from  his  lips  ;  and  they  could 
hardly  sit  or  stand,  or  keep  their  passions  under  any  proper 
restraints,  so  general  was  the  concern  during  his  stay  with 
us  ;  and  so  ignorant  were  we  of  the  danger  persons  in  such 
a  case  were  in  of  apostasy,  which  unhappy  observation  has 
since  taught  us,  that  we  pleased  ourselves  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  gathering  of  more  people  to  the  divine  Shiloh, 
than  now  seem  to  have  been  actually  gathered  to  him  ;  though 
there  be  still  the  greatest  reason  to  hope,  that  sundry  bound 
themselves  to  the  Lord  in  an  everlasting  covenant,  never  to 
be  forgotten. 

"  '  Some  time  after  this,  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Roan  was 
sent  by  the  Presbytery  of  Newcastle  (under  whose  imme- 
diate care  we  had  voluntarily  placed  ourselves)  to  supply  us. 
He  continued  with  us  longer  than  either  of  the  former  ;  and 
the  happy  effects  of  his  ministrations  are  still  apparent,  in 
many  instances.  He  preached  at  sundry  places  at  the  earn- 
est solicitations  of  the  people,  which  was  the  happy  occasion 
of  beginning  and  promoting  the  religious  concern,  where 
there  were  little  appearances  of  it  before.  This,  together 
with  his  speaking  pretty  freely  about  the  degeneracy  of  the 
clergy  in  this  colony,  gave  a  general  alarm,  and  some  mea- 
sures were  concerted  to  suppress  us.  To  incense  the  indig- 
nation of  the  government  the  more,  a  perfidious  wretch  de- 
posed, he  heard  Mr.  Roan  use  some  blasphemous  expres- 
sions in  his  sermon,  and  speak  in  the  most  shocking  and 
reproachful  manner  of  the  established  church.  An  indict- 
ment was  thereupon  drawn  up  against  Mr.  Roan,  (though  by 
that  time  he  had  departed  the  colony,)  and  some  of  the 
people  who  had  invited  him  to  preach  at  their  houses,  were 
cited  to  appear  before  the   General  Court,    (which,  in  this 


382  THE   GREAT  AWAKENING. 

government,  consists  of  the  Governor  or  Commander-in- 
chief,  and  His  Majesty's  council,)  and  two  of  them  were 
fined  twenty  shillings  sterHng,  besides  the  costs,  which  in  one 
of  the  cases  would  have  amounted  to  near  fifty  pounds,  had 
the  evidences  demanded  their  due.  While  my  cause  was 
upon  trial,  I  had  reason  to  rejoice  that  the  throne  of  grace  is 
accessible  in  all  places,  and  that  helpless  creatures  can  waft 
up  their  desires  unseen,  to  God,  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd. 
Six  evidences  were  cited  to  prove  the  indictment  against  Mr. 
Roan  ;  but  their  depositions  were  in  his  favor ;  and  as  for 
the  evidence  mentioned  just  now,  who  accused  him  of  blas- 
phemy against  God  and  the  church,  when  he  heard  of  Messrs. 
G.  Tennent's  and  S.  Finley's  arrival,  he  fled,  and  has  not 
returned  since  ;  so  that  the  indictment  was  dropped.  I  had 
reason  to  fear  being  banished  the  colony  ;  and  all  circumstan- 
ces seemed  to  threaten  the  extirpation  of  religion  among  the 
dissenters  in  these  parts. 

"  '  In  these  difficulties  we  lay,  without  any  person  of  a  pub- 
lic character  to  appear  in  our  favor  ;  whereupon  we  deter- 
mined to  acquaint  the  Synod  of  New  York  with  our  case  ; 
hoping  that  a  synodical  representation  of  it  to  our  worthy 
Governor,  the  Hon.  Sir  William  Gooch,  might  free  him 
from  the  misinformations  under  which  he  labored,  and  pro- 
cure us  the  liberties  granted  to  Protestant  Dissenters  by  the 
Act  of  Toleration.  Accordingly,  four  of  us  went  to  the 
Synod,  May,  1745,  when  the  Lord  favored  us  with  success. 
The  Synod,  being  informed  of  our  difficulties,  and  presuming 
they  might  be  removed  by  an  impartial  representation  of  our 
affairs,  drew  up  an  address  to  our  Governor,  and  sent  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  G.  Tennent  and  Samuel  Finley  to  wait  on  his 
honor  to  present  it,  and  to  officiate  a  few  days  among  us. 
Sir  William  received  them  with  condescension  and  respect, 
and  granted  them  liberty  to  preach  in  Hanover.  By  this 
means,  the  tremendous  cloud  that  hung  over  us  was  dissipa- 
ted for  a  time,  and  our  languid  hopes  were  revived.  Mr. 
Tennent  and  Mr.  Finley  continued  with  us  about  a  week  ; 
and  though  the  deluge  of  passion  in  which  we  were  at  first 
overwhelmed,  was  by  this  time  somewhat  abated,  yet  much 
good  was  done  by  their  ministry.  The  people  of  God  were 
refreshed,  and  sundry  careless  sinners  were  awakened. 
Some  that  had  confided  before  in  their  moral  conduct  and 
religious   duties,    were  convinced   of  the   depravity  of  their 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  383 

nature,  and  the  necessity  of  being  renewed  in  the  spirit  of 
their  mind  ;  though  indeed  there  were  but  (ew  unregeneraie 
persons  among  us  at  that  time,  that  could  claim  so  regular  a 
character  ;  the  generality  of  professors  indulging  themselves 
in  criminal  liberties,  and  being  remiss  in  the  duties  of  reli- 
gion ;  which  alas  !  is  too  commonly  the  case  still  in  such 
parts  of  the  colony  as  the  late  revival  did  not  extend  to. 

"  '  After  these  gentlemen  had  left  us,  we  continued  vacant 
for  a  considerable  time,  and  kept  up  our  meetings  for  read- 
ing and  prayer  in  sundry  places  ;  and  the  Lord  favored  us  at 
these  occasions  with  his  gracious  presence.  I  was  again  re- 
peatedly presented  and  fined  in  court  for  absenting  myself 
from  church,  and  keeping  up  unlawful  meetings,  as  they 
were  called ;  but  the  bush  flourished  in  the  flames. 

"  '  The  next  that  were  appointed  to  supply  us,  were  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  William  Tennent  and  Samuel  Blair.  They 
waited  on  the  Governor,  and  readily  obtained  his  permission 
to  officiate  among  us.  Their  labors  were  not  in  vain  in  the 
Lord.  They  administered  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  among  us  before  their  departure  ;  which  was  the  first 
administration  of  that  heavenly  ordinance  among  us  since  our 
dissent  from  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  we  have  reason  to 
remember  it  till  our  last  moments,  as  a  most  glorious  day  of 
the  Son  of  man.  The  assembly  was  large,  and  the  novelty 
of  the  mode  of  administration  did  peculiarly  engage  their  at- 
tention. The  children  were  abundantly  fed,  and  others  were 
brought  to  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness.  It  ap- 
peared as  one  of  the  days  of  heaven  to  some  of  us  ;  and  we 
could  hardly  help  wishing  we  could,  with  Joshua,  have  de- 
layed the  revolutions  of  the  heavens,  to  prolong  it. 

"  '  Messrs.  Tennent  and  Blair  continued  with  us  about  a 
fortnight ;  and  immediately  after  their  departure,  Mr.  White- 
field  came  and  preached  four  or  five  days  in  these  parts  ; 
which  was  the  happy  means  of  giving  us  further  encourage- 
ment, and  engaging  others  to  the  Lord,  especially  among  the 
Church  people,  who  received  his  doctrines  more  readily  than 
they  would  from  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  denomination. 

"  '  After  his  departure,  we  were  destitute  of  a  minister, 
and  followed  our  usual  method  of  reading  and  prayer  at  our 
meetings,  till  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davies,  our  present  pastor,  was 
sent  by  the  Presbytery  to  supply  us  about  six  weeks,  in 
spring,  Anno  1747,  when  our  discouragements  from  the  gov- 


384  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ernment  were  renewed  and  multiplied  :  for  on  one  Sunday, 
the  Governor's  proclamation  was  set  up  at  our  meetinghouse, 
strictly  requiring  all  magistrates  to  suppress  and  prohibit,  as 
far  as  they  lawfully  could,  all  itinerant'  preachers,  &c.,  which 
occasioned  us  to  forbear  reading  that  day,  till  we  had  time  to 
deliberate  and  consult  what  was  expedient  to  do  ;  but  how 
joyfully  were  we  surprised  before  the  next  Sabbath,  when 
we  unexpectedly  heard  that  Mr.  Davies  was  come  to  preach 
so  long  among  us  ;  and  especially,  that  he  had  qualified  him- 
self according  to  law,  and  obtained  the  licensure  of  four 
meetinghouses  among,  us,  which  had  never  been  done  be- 
fore !  Thus,  when  our  hopes  were  expiring,  and  our  liber- 
ties more  precarious  than  ever,  we  were  suddenly  advanced 
to  a  more  secure  situation.  Man's  extremity  is  the  Lord's 
opportunity.  For  this  seasonable  instance  of  the  interposi- 
tion of  divine  providence,  we  desire  to  offer  our  grateful 
praises  ;  and  we  importune  the  friends  of  Zion  generously  to 
concur  in  the  delightful  employ.'  " 

Such  was  the  rise  of  Presbyterianism  in  Virginia.  In 
1748,  Davies  obtained  licenses  for  three  more  meeting 
houses,  and  thenceforth  divided  his  lime  among  the  seven. 
Notwithstanding  many  troubles  from  the  partisans  of  the 
Church  of  England,  who  had  the  government  of  the  colony 
in  their  hands,  Presbyterianism  continued  to  gain  strength, 
and  even  when  this  letter  was  written,  the  revival  was  still  in 
progress. 

Meanwhile,  Whitefield  was  laboring  in  other  regions,  es- 
pecially Pennsylvania  and  Maryland.  His  course,  and  the 
general  results  of  his  labors,  as  he  estimated  them  at  the 
time,  may  be  learned  from  his  letters.     He  wrote  ;  — 

"  Bohemia,  J\Id.,  October  8,  1746.  —  I  trust  the  time  for 
favoring  this  and  the  neighbouring  southern  provinces  is  come. 
Everywhere,  almost,  the  door  is  opened  for  preaching,  great 
numbers  flock  to  hear,  and  the  power  of  an  ascended  Saviour 
attends  the  word.  For  it  is  surprising  how  the  Lord  causes 
prejudices  to  subside,  and  makes  my  former  most  bitter  ene- 
mies to  be  at  peace  with  me." 

'■'■Annapolis,  Md.,  J^ovember  8,  1746.  —  Lately  I  have 
been  in  seven  counties  in  Maryland,  and  preached  with  abun- 
dant 


success 


>> 


"  Charleston,  January  23,  1747.  —  The   Lord    Jesus   is 
pleased  to  give  me  great  access  to  multitudes  of  souls."     He 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  385 

wrote  from  the  same  place,  March  15,  that  Bethesda  was 
never  in  a  better  condition  ;  that  he  had  opened  a  Latin 
school  there  during  the  winter ;  that  the  Spirit  was  striving 
with  several  of  the  children,  and  that  he  hoped  yet  to  see 
ministers  furnished  from  Georgia.  April  28,  he  wrote  from 
Bohemia,  of  the  success  of  Davies  in  Virginia  ;  but  a  proc- 
lamation had  been  issued  against  itinerants,  so  that  the  door 
was  shut  against  Whitefield. 

'■'•  Wicoacomico^  Md.^  May  16,  1747.  —  Maryland  is 
yielding  converts  to  the  blessed  Jesus.  The  gospel  seems 
to  be  moving  southward." 

"  J^ear  JYewton,  Md.,  May  21,  1747.  — I  have  been  now 
a  three  hundred  miles'  circuit  in  Maryland,  and  through  one 
or  two  counties  in  Pennsylvania.  Everywhere  the  people 
have  a  hearing  ear,  and  I  trust  some  have  aii  obedient  heart." 

'■'■Philadelphia,  June  1,  1747.  —  At  present  I  have  full 
work  here.  The  congregations  yesterday  were  evidently 
large,  and  for  this  month  past  I  have  been  preaching  to  thou- 
sands in  different  places." 

He  soon  went  to  New  York,  and  then  to  Newport,  Bos- 
ton, and  Portsmouth.  On  his  return,  he  wrote  to  Gilbert 
Tennent  : 

"  JVeio  York,  August  29.  — My  reception  at  Boston,  and 
elsewhere  in  New  England,  was  like  unto  the  first.  Arrows 
of  conviction  fled  and  stuck  fast.  Congregations  were  larger 
than  ever,  and  opposers'  mouths  were  stopped.  Will  you 
now  take  another  trip  .''"  Tennent  was  not  at  liberty  to  com- 
ply, even  if  he  desired  it. 

After  short  visits  to  Philadelphia  and  Bohemia,  Whitefield, 
according  to  previous  arrangements,  went  to  spend  the  win- 
ter in  North  Carolina.  His  letters  from  Bathtown  continu- 
ally express  hopes  of  a  revival,  but  none  of  them  record  its 
existence.  Yet  his  labors  doubtless  prepared  the  way  for 
those  of  the  Synod  of  New  York,  which  were  successfully 
carried  on  a  few  years  afterwards.  In  May,  1748,  he  em- 
barked for  Bermuda,  whence,  after  some  weeks,  he  continu- 
ed his  voyage  to  England.  His  subsequent  visits  to  these 
colonies  were  much  of  the  same  character,  though  at  times, 
as  at  New  York  in  1764,  attended  with  remarkable  success. 

To  provide  a  supply  of  ministers  for  carrying  on  the  good 
work  extensively  and  permanently,  the  Synod  of  New  York 
procured,  in  1746,  the  first  charter  for  the  College  at 
33 


336  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Princeton.  The  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson  was  chosen  its 
first  President,  and  continued  in  that  office  till  his  death,  in 
1747.  Mr.  Burr,  the  son-in-law  of  Edwards  of  Northamp- 
ton, succeeded  him.  The  charter  was  unacceptable,  and  in 
I74S,  another  was  granted  by  Governor  Belcher,  who  was 
Governor  of  Massachusetts  at  the  time  of  Whitefield's  first 
arrival.  For  many  years,  this  college  received  a  large  pro- 
portion of  its  students  from  New  England,  where  many  of  the 
pious  had  more  confidence  in  it,  than  in  Harvard  or  Yale. 
Among  its  later  Presidents  were  Edwards,  who  succeeded 
his  son-in-law,  Davies  and  Finley,  —  all  ardent  and  success- 
ful laborers  in  this  great  revival.  In  1753,  Gilbert  Tennent 
and  Samuel  Davies  made  a  successful  visit  to  England  and 
Scotland,  by  appointment  of  the  Synod  at  the  request  of  the 
Trustees,  to  procure  funds  for  its  support. 

Twenty-two  ministers  were  present  at  the  formation  of 
the  Synod  of  New  York  in  1745.  Eight  others  attended  in 
1746  ;  nine  others  in  1747  ;  three  others  in  1743  ;  five 
others,  besides  the  whole  Presbytery  of  Suffolk,  on  Long 
Island,  in  1749.  Six  new  members  were  reported  in  1750  ; 
nine  in  1751  ;  three  in  1752  ;  five  in  1753  ;  six  in  1754  ; 
three  in  1755  ;  six  in  1756  ;  three  in  1757  ;  and  one  in 
1758.  The  whole  number  reported  as  belonging  to  the  Syn- 
od that  year,  was  seventy-two.  The  Synod  of  Philadel- 
phia, meanwhile,  received  twenty-two  members  ;  but,  owing 
to  deaths  and  other  causes,  had  only  about  the  same  number  of 
members  which  the  division  left,  — a  little  more  than  twenty. 
They  had  made  some  efforts  to  build  up  new  churches  in 
Virginia  and  elsewhere,  but  with  rather  moderate  success. 

It  is  evident  from  these  facts,  that  the  impulse  given  to 
the  progress  of  religion  in  1740,  was  still  felt.  With  occa- 
sional visits  from  Whitefield  and  the  constant  labors  of  the 
Tennents  and  their  allies,  the  revival  continued  for  many 
years,  —  not  always  in  the  same  place,  or  the  same  form,  but 
substantially  existing  and  efficient  in  increasing  the  number 
of  the  pious.  In  no  other  way  can  we  account  for  the  fact, 
that  the  number  of  ministers  in  the  Synod  of  New  York  was 
more  than  tripled  in  seventeen  years. 

Notwithstanding  repeated  efforts  at  reconciliation,  in  which 
the  members  of  the  New  York  Presbytery  usually  took  the 
lead,  the  scliism  continued  till  May  29,  1758.  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent had  long  been  anxious  for  a  reunion.     In  1749,  he  pub- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  387 

lished  his  Irenicum  Ecclesiasiicum^  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
moting it.  In  this  and  other  writings,  he  argued  powerfully 
against  several  sentiments  and  practices  which  had  been  as- 
cribed to  him,  and  even  against  some  which  he  had  appar- 
ently held.  The  parties  became  convinced  that  there  were 
no  differences  between  them  sufficient  to  justify  their  separa- 
tion. All  felt  the  need  of  union,  in  order  to  the  greatest 
prosperity  of  the  cause  of  religion.  The  Synod  of  Philadel- 
phia, too,  must  have  perceived  that  they  were  steadily  losing 
their  importance,  and  could  escape  becoming  an  insignificant 
sect,  only  by  uniting  with  that  body  which  would  certainly  be- 
come the  Presbyterian  church  in  America. 

In  arranging  the  terms  of  union,  the  Synod  of  Philadel- 
phia declared,  that  the  "Protestation  "  of  1741  had  never  been 
judicially  adopted,  and  was  not  accounted  a  synodical  act, 
but  only  the  act  of  those  who  signed  it  ;  so  that  there  was  no 
need  of  revoking  it.  As  to  "  rash  judging  "  and  "  intru- 
sions," it  was  agreed,  "  That  it  shall  be  esteemed  and  treat- 
ed as  a  censurable  evil,  to  accuse  any  member  of  heterodoxy, 
insufficiency  or  immorality,  in  a  calumniating  manner,  or  oth- 
erwise than  by  private  brotherly  admonition,  or  by  a  regular 
process  according  to  our  known  rules  of  judicial  trial  in 
cases  of  scandal.  And  it  shall  be  considered  in  the  same 
view,  if  any  presbytery  appoint  supplies  within  the  bounds  of 
another  presbytery  without  their  concurrence  ;  or  if  any 
member  officiate  in  another's  congregation  without  asking  and 
obtaining  his  consent,  or  the  session's,  in  case  the  minister  be 
absent.  Yet  it  shall  be  esteemed  unbrotherly  for  any  one, 
in  ordinary  circumstances,  to  refuse  his  consent  to  a  regular 
member  when  requested."  The  whole  subject  of  licensure 
and  ordination  was  left  to  the  presbyteries,  without  interfer- 
ence from  a  Synod's  committee.  Congregations  which  had 
beconje  divided  during  the  schism,  were  to  be  united  where 
it  could  conveniently  be  done  ;  but  where  both  parties  had 
settled  ministers,  should  be  allowed  to  remain  as  they  were. 
The  Synod  of  New  York  declared  its  belief  unaltered  con- 
cerning the  revival  ;  and  the  united  Synod  declared,  that  a 
change  to  penitence,  faith  and  a  holy  life  is  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  Spirit  of  God,  even  though  attended  with  "  bodily 
commotions  "  and  other  irregularities  ;  and  that  persons  who, 
without  such  a  change,  fancy  themselves  converted  because 
they  have  had  visions,  or  trances,  or  faintings,  or  the  like, 
are  "under  a  dangerous  delusion." 


388  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

The  number  of  members  of  this  united  body,  which  was 
called  "  The  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,"  was 
ninety-six.*  Of  these,  seventeen  are  known  to  have  been 
graduates  from  Princeton,  three  from  Harvard,  and  twenty- 
three  from  Yale.  Others  of  them,  as  the  Tennents,  had 
been  educated  in  this  country,  and  many  were  from  Europe. 

In  the  Presbyterian  Church,  after  the  union,  the  friends  of 
the  revival  had  an  overwhelming  preponderance  on  account 
of  their  numbers,  and  still  more  on  account  of  their  activity, 
energy,  and  weight  of  character.  They  imparted  their  spirit 
to  the  church  itself,  when  acting  as  a  whole  ;  to  the  young 
men  who  entered  its  ministry,  and  to  the  new  congregations 
that  were  added  to  its  communion.  And  thus  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  were  saved  from  following  their  allies  in  New 
England,  in  Scotland,  in  Ireland,  and  in  England,  into  the 
dead  sea  of  Arminian  inefficiency,  and  the  bottomless  gulf  of 
Unitarianism.  Had  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  been  strong 
enough  to  stand  alone,  its  history  would  have  been  like  that 
of  Henchman's  church  at  Lynn.  It  would  have  kept  all  its 
congregations  still  and  quiet.  It  would  have  repressed  all 
strong  feeling  about  religion.  It  would  have  induced  a  gen- 
eral apathy  in  people  and  ministers,  in  which  neither  would 
have  cared  much  for  any  thing  but  the  privilege  of  remaining 
undisturbed.  Consequently,  all  disturbing  doctrines  would 
have  been  first  neglected,  and  then  disbelieved,  and  the  truly 
orthodox  "  standards  "  of  the  church  would  have  been  either 
altered,  or  regarded  as  a  dead  letter. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  RESULTS. 


The  first  inquiry  of  most  readers  will  be.  How  many 
were  truly  converted  during  this  revival  ?  A  precise  answer 
to  this  question  is  impossible.  Whitefield's  records  of  his 
own  success  scarcely  form  a  basis  for  a  conjecture.     As  has 

"  Prof.  Hodge's  List,  Const.  Hist      Pres.  Styles  says,"  above  100;"  and 
adds,  41  destitute  congregations  in  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  alone. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENLXG.  339 

been  shown,  he  immensely  overrated  the  numbers  of  his 
hearers  ;  and  he  had  very  Httle  opportunity  to  ascertain  how 
many  of  them  received  any  saving  benefit  from  his  labors. 
When  he  saw  hundreds  or  thousands  at  a  time  melted  by  his 
eloquence,  he  called  it  a  "gracious  melting,"  thanked  God 
for  the  display  of  his  power,  hoped  they  would  prove  true 
converts,  and  hurried  away  to  preach  the  gospel  to  other 
thousands.  Multitudes  of  cases  answered  to  his  hopes. 
Other  multitudes  were  only  made  to  weep  by  his  eloquence, 
without  being  converted,  convicted,  or  even  alarmed.  The 
same  is  true,  to  a  less  extent,  of  other  itinerants  of  the  day. 

Various  estimates  have  been  given,  of  the  number  added 
to  the  churches.  Dr.  Cogswell  *  thinks  it  probable,  that 
twenty-five  thousand  were  added  to  the  churches  in  New 
England.  Trumbull  f  estimates  the  number  of  converts  in 
New  England  in  two  or  three  years,  at  thirty  or  forty  thou- 

i     sand.     Others   place    the  number  as  high  as  fifty  thousand. 

\     To    these   must  be  added   the   numerous  accessions  to  the 

Presbyterian  Church,  which  we    can  only    conjecture    from 

the   rapid  increase  of  settled  pastors.     Where  so  many  new 

congregations  were  formed,  we  may  be  sure  that  many  old 

j    ones  were  enlarged. 

The  number  of  Congregational  churches,  too,  was  increas- 
ed. The  Rev.  Ezra  Styles,  of  Newport,  afterwards  Presi- 
dent of  Yale  College,  in  his  sermon  on  "  Christian  Union," 
published  in  1760, |  states  that  since  1740,  "  an  augmenta- 

'  tion  of  above  150  new  churches  has  taken  place,  founded  not 
on  the  separations,  but  natural  increase  into  new  towns  and 
parishes,"  making  the  whole  number  of  Congregational 
churches  530.  If,  by  this  "  augmentation,"  the  number  of 
churches  only  kept  pace  with  the  increase  of  population,  it 
shows  the  influence  of  the  revival  ;  for  without  that  influence, 
a  greater  proportion  of  new  settlements  would  have  remained 
without  churches.  But  doubtless  it  was  otherwise,  and  many 
of  them  were  established  in  the  older  parts  of  the  country, 
by  the  peaceable  division  of  towns  and  parishes,  to  meet  the 
increased  desire  for  religious  privileges.  For  instance,  a  revi- 
val began  at  Leicester,  about  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1742.  Edwards,  as  has  been  mentioned,  spent  several 
weeks  there,  laboring  with  great  success.     In  May,  1744,  a 

*  Christian  Philanthropist,  p.  392.         t  History  Ct.         t  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib. 

33* 


390  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

new  church  was  organized  in  the  west  precinct  of  Leicester, 
and,  in  November  following,  the  Rev.  Joshua  Eaton  was  or- 
dained as  its  pastor.*  Nor  may  we  suppose,  that  all  the 
churches  which  were  "founded  on  the  separations"  were 
useless.  In  some  instances,  they  were  founded  on  separa- 
tions from  degenerate  churches  and  an  unconverted  n)inistry, 
as  even  charity  must  admit,  and  were  the  means  of  estab- 
lishing and  preserving  gospel  ordinances  in  their  life  and 
power,  where  otherwise  there  would  have  been  only  the  dead 
form  of  religion.  Some  of  them  occurred  where  the  Chris- 
tian population  was  large  enough  to  justify  division.  Tl)ough 
all  or  nearly  all  of  them  were  more  or  less  disorderly  at  first, 
and  some  of  them  too  disorderly  to  be  capable  of  long  life, 
some  of  them  became  regular  and  orderly  churches,  and  sub- 
sist as  useful  institutions  to  this  day.  President  Clapp,  who 
in  1742  forbade  his  pupils  to  attend  the  Separate  meeting  at 
New  Haven,  became  an  attendant  there  himself  in  less  than 
ten  years. f  Still  more  of  the  Separatist  churches  became 
Baptists,  and  still  subsist  ;  and  the  older  Baptist  churches 
were  considerably  increased  during  the  revival,  and  especially 
after  1745.  Their  increase  is  not  included  in  the  estimate 
of  Dr.  Styles. 

We  have,  then,  these  elements  of  conjecture  :  1.  The  es- 
timates of  the  number  of  converts  during  a  few  years  in  New 
England,  by  men  who  were  active  in  those  times  or  remem- 
ber them,  vary  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  thousand.  2.  One 
hundred  and  fifty  Congregational  churches  were  regularly 
formed  in  less  than  twenty  years,  including  the  years  in  which 
the  country  was  distracted  and  its  growth  impeded  by  the 
"  old  French  wars."  3.  A  considerable  number  of  Sepa- 
ratist churches  was  formed,  which  really  added  to  the  strength 
of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  4.  There  was  an  increase  of 
strength,  known  to  be  considerable,  to  the  Baptist  churches 
in  New  England.  5.  The  number  of  Presbyterian  ministers 
had  increased  from  forty-five  or  less,  before  the  schism,  to 
more  than  oneiiundred  ;  and  Presbyterian  congregations  had 
increased,  so  that  there  were  forty-one  desitute,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Delaware  alone.  —  The  growth  of  the  country, 
notwithstanding  the  wars  by  which  it  was  retarded,  accounts 
ior  some  part  of  this  increase  ;  but  after  all  due  allowance 

'  Boston  Gazette,  Nov.  27,  1744.  t  Backus,  Eccl.  History  N.  E. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  391 

on  that  account,  it  is  evident  that  the  revival  had  done  much 
to  enlarge  the  number  of  the  pious  and  extend  the  influence 
of  religion. 

But  the  increase  in  the  number  of  churches  and  church 
members  is  a  very  inadequate  measure  of  the  increase  of 
piety.  Great  numbers  of  church  members  were  converted. 
We  must  remember  that  the  practice  of  admitting  to  the 
communion  all  persons  neither  heretical  nor  scandalous,  was 
general  in  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  prevailed  extensively 
among  the  Congregational  churches.  In  consequence,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  communicants  in  both  were  uncon- 
verted persons.  Multitudes  of  these  were  converted.  Of 
course,  there  was  no  census  of  the  unconverted  members  of 
the  several  churches,  or  of  the  conversions  among  them  ; 
nor  would  any  of  them  be  counted  as  additions  to  the  church- 
es. In  some  cases,  the  revival  seems  to  have  been  almost 
wholly  within  the  church,  and  to  have  resulted  in  the  conver- 
sion of  nearly  all  the  members.  A  large  addition  ought  to 
be  made,  on  this  score,  to  the  estimated  number  of  conver- 
sions. 

No  considerable  deduction  is  to  be  made  from  these  esti- 
mates, on  account  of  the  supposed  converts  who  in  the  end 
"fell  away ;"  for  the  estimates  rest  mostly  on  facts  of  a  later 
date  than  their  apostasy.  At  the  commencement  of  the  re- 
vival, the  practice  of  attempting  to  distinguish  between  the 
converted  and  the  unconverted  was  for  the  most  part  obso- 
lete, and,  except  among  the  Separatists,  there  was  little 
thought  of  reviving  it.  Any  manifest  approach  towards  it 
was  condemned  by  the  majority,  even  of  the  pious,  both  in 
the  ministry  and  out  of  it,  as  "uncharitable,"  "  censorious," 
and  "divisive."  Very  naturally,  therefore,  they  counted 
and  reported  the  number  of  the  "  awakened,"  including 
church  members  and  others  ;  and  thus  the  impression  was 
very  extensively  made,  that  the  "awakened,"  generally, 
were  expected  to  prove  real  Christians.  It  was  to  estimates 
formed  under  the  influence  of  such  habits  of  thought,  that 
Edwards  alluded,  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Erskine,  of  June  28, 
1751.  "I  cannot  say  that  the  greater  part  of  supposed  con- 
verts give  reason,  by  their  conversation,  to  suppose  that  they 
are  true  converts.  The  proportion  may,  perhaps,  be  more 
truly  represented  by  the  proportion  of  blossoms  on  a  tree, 
which  abide  and  come  to  mature  fruit,  to  the  whole  number 


392  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

of  blossoms  in  the  spring."*  The  result  would  be  much  the 
same  now,  if  all  whose  attention  is  aroused  during  a  revival, 
were  at  first  counted  as  "supposed  converts."  The  esti- 
mates already  given,  are  founded  on  facts  and  opinions  gath- 
ered after  the  false  blossoms  had  fallen  off. 

The  value  of  these  conversions  must  not  be  estimated  by 
their  number  alone.  Their  proportion  to  the  population  of 
the  country  must  be  considered.  Dr.  Styles  supposed  the 
number  of  inhabitants  in  New  England,  in  1760,  to  be  501,- 
909  ;  and  fifteen  years  afterwards,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  war  of  the  Revolution,  the  population  of  all  the  colonies 
was  supposed  to  be  three  millions,  at  the  most.  He  ap- 
proves the  statement  of  Franklin,  that  the  population  of  New 
England  doubled  in  about  twenty  years  ;  so  that  in  1740,  it 
could  not  have  been  much  over  250,000  ;  and  for  the  other 
colonies  a  similar  reduction  should  be  made.  Suppose,  how- 
ever, the  whole  population  of  all  the  colonies  to  have  been 
2,000,000.  It  is  now  about  17,000,000,  or  more  than 
eight  times  as  great.  Suppose  the  whole  number  of  converts 
to  have  been  50,000,  which  seems  quite  low  enough.  They 
would  bear  as  great  a  proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  in- 
habitants, and  would  do  as  much  towards  changing  the  rela- 
tive power  of  the  religious  and  irreligious,  as  the  conversion 
of  400,000  would  do  now. 

We  should  remember,  too,  that  many  of  these  converts 
were  already,  and  had  long  been,  church  members,  and,  from 
their  want  of  piety,  were  at  best  dead  weights  to  the  church- 
es. They  now  became  active  and  valuable  members. 
There  was  a  twofold  gain.  In  every  such  instance,  the 
church  felt  its  encumbering  burden  diminished,  and  its 
strength  increased.  Almost  every  church  has  its  dead 
weights,  and  knows  what  an  impediment  they  are  to  its  use- 
fulness ;  but  iew  in  this  day  are  able  even  to  imagine  the 
condition  of  a  church,  where  a  large  part  of  the  members 
give  no  evidence  of  piety,  except  that  they  are  neither  heret- 
ical nor  scandalous  ;  still  less,  the  condition  of  a  church, 
composed  almost  entirely  of  dead  weights,  all  supposing  that 
God  looks  upon  their  membership  with  approbation.  What 
must  be  the  value  of  a  revival,  in  which  the  members  of 
such  a  church  are  converted  into  active  Christians  ?    What 


Dwight's  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  4G0. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  393 

shall  we  say  of  a  revival,  which  works  such  a  transformation 
of  churches  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  ? 

And  what  shall  be  said  of  ministers,  who  are  mere  dead 
weights  ?  Whitefield  was  rash,  and  Tennent  was  severe,  in 
their  judgments  of  the  number  of  unconverted  ministers. 
They  were  probably  fewer  than  these  men  supposed,  espe- 
cially in  New  England.  Still,  it  is  useless  to  deny  their  ex- 
istence. When  the  colleges  received  young  men  without 
even  the  appearance  of  piety,  to  prepare  for  the  ministry  ; 
when,  if  graduates  were  found  to  possess  competent  knowl- 
edge, and  were  neither  heretical  nor  scandalous,  their  piety 
was  taken  for  granted  and  they  were  ordained  of  course  ; 
when  the  doctrine  that  unconverted  ministers,  though  ortho- 
dox in  doctrine  and  regular  in  their  lives,  were  "  the  bane  of 
the  church,"  gave  offence,  we  may  be  sure  that  unconverted 
ministers  existed.  And  such,  not  universally,  but  to  a  la- 
mentable extent,  was  the  case  in  all  the  colonies.  There 
can  be  no  doubt,  that  a  considerable  number  of  ministers 
were  converted  during  the  revival.  Such  was  their  own 
judgment  concerning  themselves  ;  and  in  the  opinion  of 
others,  their  previous  and  subsequent  lives  showed  its  cor- 
rectness. Of  nearly  equal  importance  was  the  conversion  of 
a  considerable  number  of  students,  preparing  for  the  ministry. 
At  the  time  of  Whitefield 's  third  visit  to  America,  from 
1744  to  1748,  there  were  not  less  than  twenty  ministers  in 
the  vicinity  of  Boston,  who  considered  him  as  the  means  of 
their  conversion.*  Those  who  owed  their  conversion  to  the 
revival,  in  the  whole  country,  must  have  been  considerably 
more  numerous.  The  value  of  such  an  infusion  of  life  into 
the  ministry  was  incalculable.  Every  such  conversion  relieved 
the  church  of  a  "bane,"  and  gave  her  a  blessing.  Nor  was 
this  all.  Many  truly  pious  ministers  had  a  very  low  standard 
of  duty,  of  hope,  and  of  effort.  They  were  scarce  aware 
that  any  thing  was  required  of  them,  besides  the  conscientious 
performance  of  a  certain  round  of  official  services.  These 
being  performed,  they  trusted  that  God  added  his  blessing, 
whether  they  could  see  any  signs  of  it  or  not.  Believing 
that  all  orthodox  and  moral  men  ought  to  be  in  the  church, 
they  felt  no  practical  need  of  any  evidence,  by  which  those 
who  were  merely  such,  might  be  distinguished  from  the  truly 

*  Philip's  Life  and  Times,  p.  311. 


394  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

regenerate ;  and  feeling  no  need  of  it,  they  ceased  to  look 
for  it,  or  expect  it.  They  regarded  the  new  birth  as  an  im- 
perceptible inward  work,  which  they  hoped  was  going  on 
among  their  people.  Many  such  pastors  were  awakened  to 
new  views  of  ministerial  duty,  learned  to  be  no  longer  satis- 
fied without  manifest  evidence  of  usefulness,  and  thenceforth 
labored  to  produce  ascertainable  changes  among  the  people 
of  their  charge.  On  the  whole,  the  beneficial  influence  of 
the  revival  on  the  ministry  was  immense. 

But  this  was  not  all  that  the  revival  did  for  the  ministry. 
It  fully  and  finally  killed  the  doctrine,  that  an  unconverted 
ministry  might  be  tolerated.  At  its  commencement,  opinions 
on  this  subject  were  in  a  state  not  easily  understood  by  men 
of  the  present  day.  Parents  felt  that  they  were  doing  a  wor- 
thy deed,  by  consecrating  their  unconverted  sons  to  the  min- 
istry, and  sending  them  to  the  colleges  to  be  prepared  for  it. 
The  colleges  felt  that  it  was  their  business  to  take  such 
youths  and  prepare  them ;  and  to  doubt  the  fitness  of  those 
whom  they  had  trained  to  the  profession,  seemed  to  be  an 
attack  both  upon  their  reputation  and  their  income.  The 
extensively  prevailing  view  of  regeneration,  as  a  work  attend- 
ed by  no  ascertainable  evidence,  discouraged  all  questioning 
concerning  a  minister's  spiritual  state.  There  was  a  dread, 
too,  of  the  Popish  doctrine,  that  the  word  and  sacraments 
derive  their  efficacy  from  the  minister,  and  not  from  Him 
who  instituted  them.  It  was  very  natural,  therefore,  that 
Dr.  Chauncy,  in  reply  to  Whitefield's  question  :  "  Are  not 
unconverted  ministers  the  bane  of  the  Christian  church," 
should  write  :  "  If  they  appear  to  be  unconverted,  by  a  con- 
duct visibly  contradictory  to  the  gospel,  I  own  they  are  a 
plague  to  the  church  of  God,  as  well  as  the  greatest  scandal 
to  religion.  Nor  is  it  a  hurt,  but  a  service  to  the  interest  of 
Christ,  to  expose  their  character,  and  lessen  their  influence 
to  do  mischief.  But  the  case  is  widely  different,  where,  so 
far  as  appears  to  the  world,  they  are  the  men  their  profession 
obliges  them  to  be.  If,  by  unconverted  ministers,  you  mean 
those  who  appear  to  be  so  by  a  faith  or  life  visibly  contradic- 
tory to  the  gospel,  I  entirely  agree  with  you.  But  if  you 
intend,  by  unconverted  ministers,  those  whom  God  knows  to 
be  so,  though  from  wiiat  outwardly  appears  they  ought  to  be 
well  thought  of,  I  doubt  not  but  you  are  under  a  great  mis- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  395 

take."*  And  again:  "Conversion  does  not  appear  to  be 
alike  necessary  for  ministers  in  their  public  capacity  as  offi- 
cers of  the  church,  as  it  is  in  their  private  capacity."!  Who 
would  write  so  now  ?  Who  now  would  condemn  as  errone- 
ous in  doctrine,  a  single  sentence  in  Tennent's  Nottingham 
sermon  ?  What  theological  seminary  would  open  its  doors, 
or  what  education  society  would  supply  funds,  to  a  young 
man  not  supposed  to  be  regenerate  ?  The  false  doctrine  of 
that  day  was  not,  even  then,  firmly  established,  especially  in 
New  England.  Men  still  remembered  the  old  Puritan  doc- 
trine and  practice,  that  none  should  be  ordained  without  a 
satisfactory  examination  in  respect  to  their  Christian  experi- 
ence. Every  body  felt,  that  calling  a  minister  unconverted, 
would  have  the  effect,  among  his  people,  of  calling  him  unfit 
for  his  place.  The  error  was  mostly  a  practical  one,  con- 
sisting in  a  lax  administration,  and  a  false  theory,  partially 
and  hesitatingly  adopted,  to  justify  it.  When  a  bold  and  vig- 
orous attack  was  made,  it  fell  at  once.  The  demand,  that  a 
minister  should  be  a  converted  man,  was  felt  to  be  reasona- 
ble, and  when  public  attention  was  once  strongly  fixed  upon 
the  question,  the  churches  and  the  community  soon  settled  it 
correctly.  And  the  correct  settlement  of  this  question  is  a 
permanent  good,  of  inestimable  value.  It  has  practically 
reached  all  evangelical  denominations  in  the  United  States, 
so  that  no  leading  man  in  any  of  them  would  dare  to  write 
now,  as  Chauncy  wrote,  or  even  as  "  the  venerable  Stod- 
dard "  had  written  before  him.  This  permanent  good  result 
infinitely  outweighs  all  the  temporary  evils,  great  as  they  cer- 
tainly were,  produced  by  the  Separatists  and  other  enthusi- 
asts during  the  contest.  The  revival  not  only  furnished  many 
converted  pastors  then,  but  secured  a  converted  ministry  for 
coming  times. 

Of  the  progress  of  truth  on  this  subject  in  the  Presbyteri- 
an Church,  there  are  some  interesting  records.  In  1761, 
three  years  after  the  union  of  the  two  Synods,  an  overture 
was  introduced  to  the  following  effect :  "As  holiness  is  a 
qualification  requisite  in  a  gospel  minister  :  Quere,  whether 
it  be  the  duty  of  a  Presbytery,  or  possible  for  them,  to  make 
candidates  give  a  narrative  of  their  personal  exercises,  and 
upon  this  form  a  judgment  of  their  real  spiritual  state  towards 

*  Letter  to  Whitefield.  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib.         t  Seasonable  Thouirhts. 


396  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

God,  as  the  ground  of  admitting  or  rejecting  them  ?  "*  The 
question  was  deferred  till  the  next  year,  when  its  authors  gave 
an  explanation  of  its  meaning.  They  stated,  that  all  were 
agreed  as  to  the  duty  of  obtaining  satisfactory  evidence  of 
the  candidate's  experimental  acquaintance  with  religion, 
"  excepting  that  some  insist  on  requiring  and  using  an  ac- 
count of  the  candidate's  personal  exercises  and  experiences 
in  religion,  as  a  means  of  a  judicature's  satisfaction  and 
ground  of  their  proceedings  with  him  ;  which  we  disallow. 
So  the  case  to  be  resolved  seems  only,  whether  a  candi- 
date's declaration  of  his  own  personal  experiences  and  exer- 
cises in  religion,  given  in  the  way  of  narrative  of  these,  or 
in  answer  to  questions  put  to  him  concerning  them,  should  be 
required  by  a  judicature,  as  one  appointed,  warrantable  and 
useful  means  of  forming  a  judgment  of  his  experimental  ac- 
quaintance with  religion,  according  to  which  judgment  they 
are  to  receive  or  reject  him."f  There  was  no  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  requiring  "  a  serious  profession  and  godly  life." 
After  each  member  had  expressed  his  views,  the  Synod  vot- 
ed, that  a  declaration  of  the  candidate's  personal  experience 
should  be  required,  as  a  proper  means  of  forming  a  judgment 
of  his  experimental  acquaintance  with  religion.  Forty  min- 
isters and  twenty-three  elders  attended  this  meeting.  Only 
thirteen  voted  in  the  negative,  and  one  was  doubtful.  If  all 
voted,  there  were  forty-nine  in  the  affirmative. 

The  question  then  arose,  whether  this  vote  was  not  a  vio- 
lation of  the  sixth  article  of  the  agreement  by  which  the  Syn- 
ods were  united,  by  which  both  Synods  were  allowed  to  act 
according  to  their  own  judgment  on  this  subject  ;  "for  it 
was  well  known  to  the  Synod  of  New  York,  that  the  presby- 
teries belonging  to  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  did  not  ex- 
amine a  candidate's  experiences."  The  question  being  put 
to  each  member,  it  appeared  that  the  members  of  the  Synod 
of  New  York  who  were  present  at  the  union,  generally  un- 
derstood the  sixth  article  to  require  a  relation  of  experien- 
ces, but  the  members  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  under- 
stood it  otherwise.  To  avoid  another  schism,  the  Synod 
declared  that  the  vote  just  passed  was  to  be  understood  only 
as  an  expression  of  opinion,  and  not  as  a  law,  binding  upon 
such  as   thought  diflerenlly.|     Even  this  failed  to  give  uni- 

*  Prof.  Hodgo.  Const.  Hist.  H.  394,  from  "  Minutes,  p.  50." 

t  Ibid.  3%.     "  Minutes,  pp.  O'l,  Go."  i  Ibid.  391).    "  Minutes,  p.  73." 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  397 

versal  satisfaction  ;  and  Messrs.  Robert  Cross,  Francis  All-  ' 
son,  John  Ewing,  John  Symington  and  James  Latta  were 
formed  into  a  Presbytery  for  one  year,  to  be  called  the  Sec-  4 
ond  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.*  The  question  whether  this 
Presbytery  should  be  allowed  to  remain  in  being,  was  deferred 
from  year  to  year  till  17G6,  when  it  was  voted  in  the  affirma- 
tive, several  of  the  New  Brunswick  ministers  protesting 
against  it. 

In  the  Presbytery  of  Donegal,  the  troubles  on  this  subject 
were  still  greater.  To  terminate  them,  the  Synod  divided 
the  Presbytery  in  1765.  This  gave  dissatisfaction,  and  va- 
rious expedients  were  proposed  to  make  peace.  A  protest, 
entered  in  1766,  declares,  that  the  "distressed  brethren 
could  not  in  conscience  submit  to  the  examination  of  the 
hearts  or  experiences  of  candidates  in  the  way  voted  by  the 
Synod,  as  they  esteemed  it  contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  to 
common  sense,  and  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Protestant 
churches."  Two  ministers,  Joseph  Tate  and  John  Beard, 
formally  withdrew  from  the  communion  of  the  Synod,  and 
several  others  appear  to  have  been  on  the  point  of  doing  it. 
In  176S,  the  dissatisfied  were  distributed  among  the  Presby- 
teries of  Donegal,  Newcastle,  and  the  Second  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia,  where  views  similar  to  their  own  prevailed  ; 
and  thus  this  schism  was  healed. 

The  difference  of  opinion  respecting  experiences,  though 
not  formally  made  prominent,  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  con- 
troversy which  produced  the  schism  of  1741,  when  the 
Tennents  and  their  friends  were  in  the  mingrity,  and  were  ex- 
cluded. In  1762,  their  majority  was  about  forty-nine  to 
fourteen,  or  seven  to  two. 

The  revival  also  did  much  to  furnish  means  of  education 
for  the  ministry,  and  for  all  the  learned  professions.  The 
reader  has  already  seen  that  it  produced  the  College  at' 
Princeton,  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for  the  Theological 
Seminary  there.  It  was  also  the  parent  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege. Among  the  Mohegans  converted  in  1741,  was  Sam- 
son Occum,  then  seventeen  years  of  age.  In  December, 
1743,  Wheelock  of  Lebanon,  whose  labors  in  the  revival 
have  been  repeatedly  noticed,  received  him  as  a  pupil,  and 
he  pursued  bis   studies  in   the   family  for  several  years.     In 

"  Const.  Hist.  n.  377.     This  was  probably  the  first  instance  of  an  "elec- 
tive affinity"  Presbytery. 

34 


398  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

174S,  Wheelock  determined  to  commence  a  school  for  the 
education  of  Indian  preachers,  and  a  donation  from  Joshua 
Moor,  a  farmer  in  Mansfield,  in  1754,  gave  it  a  permanent 
foundation.  The  influence  of  the  revival  on  several  Indian 
tribes  helped  to  furnish  him  with  pupils,  and  in  1762,  he  had 
more  than  twenty  under  his  care.  In  1766,  the  Rev.  Na- 
thaniel Whitaker  and  Occum,  who  had  become  a  preacher 
of  some  distinction,  went  to  l^'.ngland  to  solicit  funds  for  the 
Institution.  Occum  attracted  unusual  attention,  Whitefield 
aided  them,  and  a  large  amount  of  funds  was  obtained.  The 
school  was  afterwards  removed  to  its  present  location,  in 
Hanover,  N.  H.,  and  Dartmouth  College  was  added  to  it.* 

The  influence  of  this  revival  on  the  cause  of  missions  to. 
the  heathen  ought  not  to  be  overlooked.  The  New  Eng- 
land Pilgrims  had  set  the  Protestant  world  the  first  example 
of  such  labors,  and  they  and  their  descendants  had  sustained 
the  work  for  more  than  a  century.  Societies  had  been 
formed  in  Great  Britain  to  aid  them  ;  and  at  a  later  day,  some 
kindred  movements  liad  been  commenced  on  the  continent 
of  Europe.  Within  a  (ew  years,  several  missions  had  been 
established  among  the  American  Indians,  but  few  conversions 
had  followed  them.  The  most  prosperous  was  the  Stock- 
bridge  Mission,  under  Sargeant.  The  revival  gave  an  im- 
])u!3e  to  the  work  at  nearly  all  the  stations.  On  Long  Isl- 
and, thirty-five  adults  and  forty-four  children  were  baptized 
by  Mr.  Horton,  in  two  years  from  his  arrival  in  1741.  Soon 
after,  there  were  numerous  conversions  among  those  near 
Stonington  ;  and  a  visit  from  them  was  the  means  of  awaken- 
ing those  in  Westerly,  R.  I.     An  account  of  this  last  awak- 


*  It  niay  bo  proper  to  mention,  that  with  the  founding  of  Dartmouth 
Collesfe,  in  1770,  a  series  of  revivals  commenced,  which  continued  for  sev- 
eral years,  and  spread, over  several  towns  in  that  vicinity.  They  were  evi- 
dently a  result  of  the  revival  of  1741),  and  possessed  many  of  its  leading 
characteristics.  There  may  have  been  no  outcries  or  convulsions  ;  but 
there  were  remarkable  dreams  and  visions,  and  wonderful  experiences, 
wiiich,  in  the  minds  of  the  judicious,  even  then,  betokened  future  apostasy. 
The  author  of  this  history  has  known  several  of  the  converts  as  Univer- 
salists  and  infidels,  and  well  remembers  the  excommunication  of  some  of 
them.  He  has  known  others  as  stable  and  consistent  Christians  Several 
of  them  became  eminent  ministers  of  the  gospel ;  and  to  the  influence  of 
one  of  theni,  —  the  Rev.  Asa  Burton,  D.  D.,  for  more  than  half  a  century 
pastor  of  the  cliurch, in  Thetford,  Vt.,  —  more  than  to  any  otiier  man,  the 
extensive  prevalence  of  sound  religion  in  that  part  of  New  England  must 
be  ascribed.  It  is  certain,  that  spurious  conversions  were  much  more  nu- 
merous then,  than  in  late  revivals  in  the  same  region. 


\ 

THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  399 

ening,  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Parks,  the  missionary,  is  given 
in  the  preceding  pages.  Heathenism  seems  to  have  been 
extirpated  from  that  whole  region.  In  1743,  Brainerd  be- 
gan his  missionary  career  at  Kaunaumeek.  In  1745  he  re- 
moved to  New  Jersey,  and  commenced  his  labors  at  the 
Forks  of  the  Delaware  and  at  Crosweeksung.  His  first  vis- 
it to  the  latter  place  was  attended  with  the  evident  presence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  awakening  and  conviction  of  his 
hearers.  When,  after  two  weeks,  he  left  them  for  a  season, 
William  Tennent  was  sent  for  and  came  to  supply  his  place. 
The  work  went  on  under  Tennent's  preaching,  and  received 
still  a  new  impulse  on  Brainerd's  return.  All  Christendom 
knows  the  glorious  scenes  that  followed.  These  dates,  and 
the  name  of  Tennent,  and  the  history  of  Brainerd  while  at 
New  Haven,  show  that  Brainerd's  triumphs  were  a  part  of 
this  great  revival.  He  soon  died  ;  but  he  "  yet  speaketh," 
and  his  influence  Is  felt  wherever  there  are  missions.  Wheel- 
ock's  Indian  School  has  already  been  mentioned.  In  1763, 
it  had  three  missionaries  and  eight  school-masters  laboring 
among  the  Indians  ;  and  from  this  school  and  from  conver- 
sation with  Whitefield,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland  went  forth, 
in  1764,  on  his  mission  to  the  Oneidas.  Whitefield  visited 
and  encouraged  both  this  Indian  School  and  Brainerd's  mis- 
sion. And  finally,  the  Concert  of  Prayer  for  the  Conver- 
sion of  the  World  was  first  suggested  by  the  leading  revival- 
ists in  Scotland,  in  October,  1744  ;  and  the  influence  of  Ed- 
wards and  their  other  American  allies  gave  it  prevalence  here. 

But  there  were  results  of  another  kind,  no  less  important 
than  these  ;  results  bearing  directly  on  the  constitution  of 
the  churches,  and  on  the  principles  which  animated  and  gov- 
erned them. 

The  revival  set  bounds  to  the  progress  of  heresy.  That 
a  cold  and  formal  Arminianism  extensively  prevailed,  is  too 
notorious  to  be  questioned.  The  decided  Calvinists  of  that 
day  asserted,  that  Socinianism  also  was  making  progress  in 
the  land.  Though  the  charge  was  denied  for  many  years, 
Unitarians  now  maintain  that  it  was  true,  and  in  this  they  are 
probably  correct.  The  growth  of  Unitarianism  was  doubt- 
less modified  by  the  revival,  but  did  not  originate  in  it  ;  for 
it  was  already  in  the  land,  and  growing  in  secret,  when  the 
revival  commenced.  A  contemporary  document  will  here 
be  in  place. 


400  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

In  the  summer  of  1745,  Prince,  Webb  and  Gee  of  Bos- 
ton, and  Hobby  of  Reading,  published  an  invitation  to  the 
friends  of  the  revival,  to  meet  at  Webb's,  on  the  last 
Wednesday  in  September.*  The  meeting  was  attended  by 
Prince,  Webb  and  Gee  of  Boston,  White  of  Gloucester, 
Rogers  of  Kittery,  Bailey  of  Weymouth,  Leonard  of  Ply- 
mouth, Rogers  of  Ipswich,  Owen  of  Groton,  Ct.,  Hobby 
of  Reading,  Parker  of  Plympton,  Jevvett  of  Rowley,  Cotton 
of  Halifax,  Hemenway  of  Tovvnsend,  Bliss  of  Concord, 
Porter  of  Bridgevvater,  Ellis  of  Plymouth,  Crocker  of  Taun- 
ton, Rogers  of  Gloucester,  and  Conant  of  Middleborough  ; 
and  their  "  Testimony  "  was  afterwards  subscribed  by  Camp- 
bell of  Plympton,  Shaw  of  Bridgewater,  Goddard  of  Leices- 
ter, and  Hovey  of  Rochester  ;  in  all,  twenty-four.  No  rea- 
son is  assigned,  why  it  received  so  (ew  signatures  ;  as  the 
friends  of  the  revival  generally  are  known  to  have  entertained 
similar  views.  Probably,  the  greater  part  of  them  thought  it 
inexpedient  to  agitate  the  country  by  a  "  Testimony  "  just 
at  that  time,  when  the  angry  controversies  occasioned  by 
Whitefield's  return  had  not  subsided,  and  when  the  itinerants 
would  take  unfair  advantage  of  every  thing  that  could  be 
pressed  into  their  service.  In  their  "  Testimony "  they 
say  :  — 

'•  We  cannot  but  also  observe  that  the  principal  means  of  the  late 
revival  were,  the  more  than  ordinary  preaching  up  such  Scripture  and 
most  important  doctrines  as  these,  namely  :  The  all  seeing  eye,  purity, 
justice,  truth,  power,  majesty  and  sovereignty  of  God  ;  the  spirituality, 
holiness,  extent  and  strictness  of  his  law;  our  original  sin,  guilt,  de- 
pravity and  corruption  by  the  fall ;  including  a  miserable  ignorance  of 
God  and  enmity  against  him,' our  predominant  and  constant  bent  to  sin 
and  creatures  above  him  ;  our  impotence  and  aversion  to  return  to 
him;  our  innumerable  and  heinous  actual  offences,  and  thereby  our 
horrid,  aggravated  guilt,  pollution  and  odiousness  in  his  eyes  ;  his 
dreadful  and  efficacious  wrath  and  curse  upon  us ;  the  necessity  that 
his  law  should  be  fulfilled,  his  justice  satisfied,  the  honor  of  his  holi- 
ness, authority  and  truth  maintained  in  his  conduct  towards  us;  our 
utter  impotence  to  help  ourselves,  and  our  continual  hazard  of  being 
sent  into  endless  misery;  the  astonishing  displays  of  the  absolute  wis- 
dom and  grace  of  God  in  contriving  and  providing  for  our  redemption  ; 
the  divinity,  modiation,  perfect  holiness,  obedience,  sacrifice,  merits, 
satisfaction,  purchase  and  grace  of  Christ ;  the  nature  and  necessity 
of  regeneration  to  the  holy  image  of  God  by  the  supernatural  opera- 
tion of  the  divine  Spirit;  with  the  various  parts  of  his  office  in  enlight- 
ening our  minds,  awakening  our  consciences,  wounding,  breaking, 

'  Evening  Post,  Aug.  19,  copied  from  Boston  Gazette,  July  3. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  401 

humbling,  subduing  and  changing  our  hearts,  infusing  his  saving  gra- 
ces, exciting  and  helping  us  in  the  exercise  of  them,  and  in  all  obedi- 
ence, witnessing  with  our  spirits  that  we  are  the  children  of  God,  and 
raising  his  consolations  and  joys  in  us;  the  difference  between  his 
saving  graces  and  merely  moral  virtues  without  sanctification,  whereby 
multitudes  are  deceived  to  their  eternal  ruin  ;  in  special,  the  nature 
and  necessity  of  receiving  Christ,  so  as  to  be  actually  united  to  him 
and  have  entire  and  everlasting  interest  in  him,  to  be  forthwith  justified 
by  his  imputed  righteousness,  adopted  into  the  number  of  the  children 
of  God,  entitled  to  all  their  privileges  assured  in  the  covenant  of 
grace,  have  Christ  as  our  mediatorial  and  vital  Head  of  all  good,  with 
his  constant  dwelling  and  acting  by  his  Spirit  in  us  ;  and  then,  in  con- 
tinual acts  of  faith,  deriving  from  him  fresh  supplies  of  spiritual  liveli- 
ness and  comfort,  as  also  light  and  strength  for  every  duty  and  to 
carry  on  our  sanctification;  the  nature  of  gospel  obedience  and  holi- 
ness, and  their  necessity,  not  as  the  matter  of  our  justification,  but  as 
the  fruit  and  evidence  of  justifying  faith,  and  to  glorify  God  and  enjoy 
him  the  principal  end  both  of  our  creation  and  redemption:  and  lastly, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  grace  of  God  ia  this  whide  transaction,  from  its 
original,  in  the  decree  of  election,  to  its  consummation  in  glory. 

"And  as  the  more  than  ordinary  preaching  up  these  great  truths  of 
revealed  religion  and  experimental  piety,  being  tlie  same  which  were 
so  successfully  preached  by  the  first  sound  and  pious  fathers  of  New 
England,  have  been  the  principal  means  of  the  late  revival ;  we  are 
sorry  to  see,  that  under  the  name  of  New  Light,  many  of  the  preach- 
ers of  these  most  important  truths,  and  especially  those  which  concern 
the  office  and  operation  of  the  Spirit  of  grace  in  bringing  lost  and 
perishing  souls  to  Christ,  are  by  many  run  down  and  ridiculed ;  as 
those  our  pious  forefathers  were  in  their  day,  under  the  same  or  alike 
reproachful  terms,  by  many  on  the  other  side  of  the  water;  and  they 
who  preach  the  same  truths  of  the  gospel  and  experimental  piety  as 
those  great  divines.  Hooker,  Cotton,  Shepard,  Goodwin,  Owen,  Flavel, 
the  Mathers,  Willard,  Stoddard,  are  represented  by  some  as  New 
Light,  Enthusiastical  or  Antinomian  preachers ;  whereby  the  awful 
danger  grows,  of  banishing  even  the  faith  of  the  glorious  office  of  that 
divine  Agent  in  the  work  of  conviction,  conversion,  sanctification  and 
comfort,  first  out  of  our  pulpits,  and  then  out  of  the  land.  Yea,  to  so 
deplorable  a  pass  have  some  traducers  of  this  revival  brought  us,  that 
if  any  of  the  young  generation  begin  to  leave  off  their  cursing,  swear- 
ing, immoderate  drinking,  obscene  discourse,  grow  concerned  for  their 
souls,  and  repair  to  the  word ;  they  are  immediately  branded  and  vili- 
fied by  their  vain  companions  Avith  the  name  of  New  Lights,  and 
efforts  are  made  to  laugh  them  out  of  their  serious  concern  for  their 
souls  and  eternity;  which  we  fear  has  been  the  ruinous  case  of  many. 

"In  such  an  awful  situation  of  things  as  this,  we  cannot  but  appre- 
hend that  the  divine  Head  of  the  church  now  loudly  calls  us,  and  all 
others  who  seriously  believe  and  are  deeply  concerned  for  those  great 
truths  of  the  gospel  as  collected  in  the  above  said  Catechism  and 
Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  interest  of  vital  piety;  without  imposing 
in  the  least  on  others,  or  assuming  any  authority  over  the  conscience 
of  any,  which  we  utterly  abhor,  as  directly  contrary  to  the  very  nature 
of  religion  itself;  to  unite  our  resolutions  and  endea-vours,  by  all  proper 
■      34* 


402  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

means,  consistent  with  liberty  of  conscience,  to  maintain,  encourage 
and  promote  the  same." 

They  then  copied  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  in  1736,  recommending  the  faithful 
preaching  of  the  doctrines  of  grace.  This  they  approved, 
as  the  best  way  of  guarding  against  errors  of  all  kinds,  "in 
particular  the  Socinian,  Antinomian  and  Arminian  ;"  and 
concluded  by  urging  all  ministers,  whatever  they  might  have 
thought  of  the  revival,  to  unite  in  maintaining  and  promoting 
"the  said  important  truths,  and  the  power  of  godliness." 

The  revival  was,  in  all  its  valuable  features,  a  manifest  ex- 
ample of  the  power  of  those  doctrines.  Those  who  received 
benefit  from  it,  knew  that  those  doctrines  were  the  means  of 
conferring  that  benefit  upon  them.  The  whole  multitude  of 
converts  regarded  those  doctrines  as  the  means  of  their  own 
salvation,  and  as  the  indispensable  means  of  the  salvation  of 
others.  Thus  a  great  company  of  orthodox  preachers  and 
many  tens  of  thousands  of  orthodox  Christians  were  raised 
up,  whose  own  experience  forbade  them  to  doubt  the  impor- 
tance of  doctrinal  truth.  Otherwise  they  might  have  gone  on, 
like  the  mass  of  those  whom  the  revival  failed  to  reach,  into 
the  abyss  of  open  and  undisguised  Unitarianism.  In  this 
respect,  even  the  bitterness  of  controversy  was  overruled  for 
good.  It  made  men  sensible  that  there  were  important  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  among  them,  and  that  the  defence  of  the 
truth  was  committed  to  its  friends,  and  not  to  the  public  gen- 
erally. 

The  Baptist  churches  also  shared,  both  in  the  danger  and 

the  deliverance  of  that  day.      Their  own  historian,  speaking 

of  the  revival  in  its  earlier  stages,  says  : 

"  A  measure  of  it  was  granted  to  the  Baptists  in  Boston,  Leicester, 
Brimfield,  Newport,  Groton  and  Wallintjford ;  but  as  the  work  was 
begun  and  carried  on  almost  wholly  by  Psedobaptists,  from  which  de- 
nomination their  forefathers  had  suflercd  much,  most  of  the  Baptists 
were  prejudiced  against  the  work,  and  against  the  Calvinian  doctrine 
by  which  it  was  promoted."* 

With  the  Separatists,  they  had  more  sympathy.  Both 
agreed  in  rejecting  the  whole  Halfway  Covenant  theory,  and 
all  its  consequences.  Both  entertained  the  same  views  of 
ordination,  and  of  Christian  liberty.  Both  had  the  same  op- 
ponents,  and  to  a  great  extent,  for  the  same   reasons.     It 

*  Backus,  Eccl.  Hist.  N.  E.,  Vol.  II.  page  134. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  403 

was  natural,  therefore,  that  they  should  first  love  each  other, 
and  afterwards  unite  ;  and  thus  the  influence  of  the  revival 
was  carried  into  the  Baptist  churches,  especially  in  Rhode 
Island  and  its  vicinity,  in  1749  and  afterwards.* 

Another  result  of  the  revival  was,  a  better  knowledge  of 
the  nature  of  religious  experience.  Without  great  ignorance 
on  this  subject,  many  of  its  worst  disorders  would  have  been 
impossible.  Edwards  wrote  to  Gillespie  of  Carnock,  in 
1751,  concerning  his  dismission  : 

"  Another  thing  that  has  evidently  contributed  to  our  calamities,  is, 
that  the  people  had  got  so  established  in  certain  wrong  notions  and 
ways  in  religion,  which  I  found  them  in,  and  could  never  beat  them  out 
of.  Particularly,  it  was  too  much  their  method  to  lay  almost  all  the 
stress  of  their  hopes  in  religion  on  the  particular  shape  and  method  of 
their  first  work ;  that  is,  the  first  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  on  their 
hearts,  in  their  conviction  and  conversion ;  and  to  look  but  little  at  the 
abiding  sense  and  temper  of  their  hearts,  and  the  course  of  their  exer- 
cises and  trials  of  grace,  for  evidences  of  their  good  estate.  Nor  had 
they  learned,  and  many  of  them  never  could  be  made  to  learn,  to  dis- 
tinguish between  impressions  on  the  imagination  and  lively  spiritual 
experience.  And  when  I  came  among  them,  I  found  it  to  be  too 
much  a  custom  among  them,  without  discretion  or  distinction  of  occa- 
sions, places  or  companies,  to  declare  and  publish  their  own  experien- 
ces, and  oftentimes  to  do  it  in  a  light  manner,  without  any  air  of  solem- 
nity. This  custom  has  not  a  little  contributed  to  spiritual  pride,  and 
many  other  evils.  When  I  first  settled  among  the  people,  being  young 
and  of  little  experience,  I  was  not  so  thoroughly  aware  of  the  ill  con- 
sequences of  such  a  custom,  and  so  allowed,  or  at  least  did  not  testify 
against  it,  as  I  ought  to  have  done. 

"  One  thing  that  has  contributed  to  bring  things  to  such  a  pass  at 
Northampton  was,  my  youth  and  want  of  more  judgment  and  experi- 
ence at  the  time  of  that  extraordinary  awakening  about  sixteen  years 
ago.  Instead  of  a  youth,  there  was  want  of  a  giant  in  judgment  and 
discretion,  among  a  people  in  such  an  extraordinary  state  of  things. 
In  some  respects,  doubtless,  my  confidence  in  myself  was  a  great  in- 
jury to  me  ;  but  in  other  respects,  my  diffidence  of  myself  injured  me. 
It  was  such  that  I  durst  not  act  my  own  judgment,  and  had  no 
strength  to  oppose  received  notions  and  established  customs,  and  to 
testify  boldly  against  some  glaring  false  appearances  and  counter- 
feits of  religion,  till  it  was  too  late.  And  by  this  means,  as  well  as 
others,  many  things  got  a  footing,  which  have  proved  a  dreadful  source 
of  spiritual  pride,  and  other  things  that  are  exceedingly  contrary  to  true 
Christianity.  If  I  had  had  more  experience  and  ripeness  of  judgment 
and  courage,  I  should  have  guided  my  people  in  a  better  manner,  and 
should  have  guarded  them  better  from  Satan's  devices,  and  prevented 
the  spiritual  calamity  of  many  souls,  and  perhaps  the  eternal  ruin  of 
some  of  them." 

*  Backus. 


404  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

If  Edwards  made  such  confessions,  what  might  have  been 
made  by  others  ?  Their  own  accounts  of  the  revivals  in  their 
parishes,  copied  into  former  parts  of  this  work,  show  in  part. 
The  want  of  discrimination  between  true  and  false  experien- 
ces must  have  struck  every  reader.  And  yet  these  are  fa- 
vorable specimens,  such  as  were  published  for  edification, 
and  are  almost  wholly  free  from  the  grosser  errors,  which 
prevailed  extensively  among  the  Separatists  and  others.  In 
fact,  false  experiences  were  so  prominent,  that  they  were 
supposed  by  many  to  constitute  what  was  called  "the  work  " 
and  "  this  work  of  God  ;  "  and  under  this  delusion,  some  in- 
dustriously promoted  them,  while  others  made  the  most  ex- 
travagant of  them  a  ground  of  reproach  against  the  whole  re- 
vival. Many  of  the  more  judicious  protested  against  this 
error,  but  were  unable  so  to  set  forth  the  difference  between 
true  and  false  experiences,  as  to  disabuse  the  public  mind. 

Edwards  first  took  up  this  subject  among  his  own  people, 
in  a  course  of  sermons,  delivered,  probably  in  1742  and 
1743.*  The  substance  of  these  sermons  was  afterwards 
thrown  into  the  form  of  a  "  Treatise  concerning  Religious 
Affections,"  and  published  under  that  title  early  in  1746. 
It  was  immediately  republished  in  England  and  Scotland, 
and  from  that  time  to  the  present,  has  been  the  standard  work 
on  that  subject,  both  there  and  here  ;  nor  is  there  any  reason 
to  suppose  that  it  will  ever  be  superseded. 

Some  may  think  it  a  fault  in  this  excellent  work,  that  so 
much  of  it  is  occupied  in  refuting  errors  that  are  too  absurd 
to  be  entertained,  even  by  the  weakest  and  most  ignorant 
minds.  But  when  the  work  was  written,  those  errors,  even  the 
most  absurd  of  them,  actually  prevailed,  and  were  working 
mischief  extensively  ;  and  it  is  by  the  light  which  that  work 
shed  on  the  Christian  world,  that  we  now  see  their  absurdity 
so  clearly.  Errors  concerning  the  "  Witness  of  the  Spirit," 
texts  of  Scripture  impressed  upon  the  mind,  and  the  nature 
of  saving  faith,  are  common,  even  in  the  writings  of  good  and 
sober  men  of  that  day  ;  f  while  the  most  extravagant  notions 

*  Dwight's  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  223. 

t  The  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson,  of  Elizabethtown,  N.  J.,  was  one  of  the 
greatest  and  safest  men  of  that  age.  Yet,  in  his  "  Display  of  Special 
Grace,"  his  true  convert  is  made  to  tell  how  he  first  received  comfort  by  a 
text  of  Scripture,  which  came  to  his  mind  in  a  new  light;  and  no  intima- 
tion is  given  that  comfort  does  not  always  come  to  the  convert  in  that  way, 
or  that  persons  may  deceive  themselves  by  taking  comfort  in  that  manner. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  405 

of  comfort  being  given  by  impressions  on  the  mind  ;  by  see- 
ing Christ  on  the  cross,  or  smihng  from  the  judgment-seat  ; 
of  assurance  of  acceptance  with  God  conveyed  in  dreams,  or 
by  efiects  on  the  body  ;  of  the  value  of  religious  loquacity, 
and  of  feelings  that  are  irrepressible,  or  that  come  strangely  and 
unaccountably,  and  are  not  made  on  purpose  by  him  that 
feels  them,  with  other  errors  of  the  kind,  were  rife  and  highly 
esteemed  among  the  Separatists  and  exhorters.  The  Rev. 
Andrew  Croswell,  already  repeatedly  mentioned,  who  was 
one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  itinerants,  and  who  had  much 
about  him  that  was  good  and  needed  at  the  time,  published  a 
book  entitled,  "  What  is  Christ  to  me,  if  he  is  not  mine?  Or  a 
Seasonable  Defence  of  the  Old  Protestant  Doctrine  of  Justi- 
fying Faith  ;  "  in  which  he  maintained  that  saving  faith  consists 
in  "  a  man's  believing,  this  moment,  that  God  doth,  for  Christ's 
sake,  forgive  his  sins,  and  that  Christ,  with  all  his  benefits,  be- 
long to  him,  notwithstanding  his  unworthiness."  This  faith 
he  held  to  be  produced  in  the  sinner's  mind  by  the  immediate 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  revealing  the  fact  that  he  is  one 
of  those  for  whom  in  particular  Christ  died  ;  contrary  to  what 
Edwards  maintains,  "that  no  revelation  of  secret  facts  by 
immediate  suggestion  is  any  thing  spiritual  and  divine,  in 
that  sense  wherein  gracious  effects  and  operations  are  so." 
Indeed,  a  list  of  the  errors  confuted  in  the  "  Treatise  on  Re- 
ligious Affections,"  would  form  a  very  perfect  summary  of 
the  false  Calvinism  of  the  day. 

This  treatise  conferred  a  double  benefit  upon  the  churches. 
In  the  first  ])lace,  it  destroyed  confidence  in  false  experien- 
ces, so  that  men  were  no  longer  deceived  with  respect  to  their 
own  piety,  or  that  of  others,  by  many  things  which  had  for- 
merly deceived  them  ;  and  thus  the  number  of  false  hopes 
and  consequent  apostasies  has  been  vastly  diminished,  many 
souls  have  been  saved  from  deluding  themselves  to  their  own 
destruction,  and  the  cause  of  Christ  has  been  saved  from 
much  reproach.  And  secondly,  as  a  consequence  of  this, 
false  experiences  have  in  a  great  measure  ceased  ;  for  when 
certain  states  of  mind  are  understood  to  be  worse  than  worth- 
less, men  are  no  longer  tempted  to  work  themselves  into 
them,  or  ministers  to  produce  them  ;  and,  satanic  agency 
apart,  a  false  experience  is  always  the  work  of  man.  To 
estimate  the  amount  of  good  achieved  by  this  work,  consider 
what  the  state  of  religion  would  be,  if  all  the  errors  against 


406  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

which  Edwards  contends,  were  zealously  urged  and  exten- 
sively prevalent  in  the  churches.* 

The  restoration  of  the  true  doctrine  concerning  church 
membership  was  another  important  result  of  the  revival  :  and 
this,  too,  v^'as  produced  through  the  mind  of  Edwards.  He 
must  have  seen  the  stupefying  influence  of  the  prevailing  prac- 
tice on  the  unconverted,  who  supposed  that,  as  they  were  in 
the  church  according  to  God's  appointment,  their  course  of  life 
was  in  some  respect  acceptable  to  him  ;  and  that,  being  in 
covenant  with  him,  they  were  in  little  danger  of  dying  till 
prepared  for  death.  It  is  certain  that  the  conduct  of  the 
Separatists  received  his  anxious  attention.  He  must,  there- 
fore, have  seen  their  arguments  against  the  admission  of  hy- 
pocrites into  the  church  ;  and  it  was  not  in  his  nature  to 
cast  arguments  away  through  prejudice,  without  ascertaining 
what  mixture  of  truth  there  might  be  in  them.  He  must 
have  seen,  too,  how  closely  the  practice  of  receiving  uncon- 
verted members  was  connected  with  the  cant  about  "  censori- 
ousness,"  and  the  demand  that  no  orthodox  and  moral  man 
should  be  considered,  addressed,  or  in  any  way  treated,  as 
an  unconverted  person.  In  short,  the  revival  must  have 
shown  him  how  the  prevalent  usage,  in  many  ways,  took  off 
the  edge  of  divine  truth,  and  shielded  men  from  its  assaults. 

Dr.  Hopkins  says,  that  Edwards  had  scruples  on  this  point 
at  the  time  of  his  ordination,  but  not  such  as  to  prevent  his 
adopting  the  practice  with  a  good  conscience  ;  "  but  at  length 
his  doubts  increased ;  which  put  him  upon  examining  it 
thoroughly.  The  result  was,  a  full  conviction  that  it  was 
wrong."  He  does  not  tell  when  this  change  of  opinion  took 
place ;  but  it  was  evidently  before  his  Treatise  on  the  Affec- 
tions was  published  ;t  and  Dr.  S.  E.  Dwight  intimates,  that 

*  The  authority  of  this  Treatise  has  been  sustained,  mainly,  by  the  evi- 
dent wisdom  of  its  practical  conclusions,  which  commend  themselves  to 
every  man's  conscience,  while  the  philosophy  which  runs  throu^li  it  has 
not  been  generally  understood.  Edwards  derives  all  gracious  atfections 
from  "  a  new  simple  idea,"  which  is  different,  in  its  very  nature,  from  any 
idea  received  through  the  bodily  senses,  and  "  which  could  be  produced 
by  no  exalting,  varying  or  compounding  "  of  any  ideas  thus  received.  But 
according  to  the  philosophy  which  nas  generally  prevailed  for  many 
years  past,  man  can  have  no  ideas  but  such  as  are  received  through  the 
bodily  senses,  or  are  formed  from  those  thus  received;  and  of  course,  the 
"new  simple  idea  "  of  wiiich  fc)d  wards  speaks,  is  impossible.  If  the  doc- 
trine of  iliat  Treatise  is  riglit,  the  intellectual  philosopliy  which  has  usu- 
ally been  taught  in  our  colleges  is  wrong. 

I  Edwards'  Worlis,  4  :  liGl.  Worcester's  edition.  Dwight's  Life  of  Ed- 
wards, p.  305,  314. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  407 

it  was  communicated  to  some  of  his  people  still  earlier. 
But  it  was  not  till  December,  1748,  that  he  had  occasion  to 
act  ofRcially  on  his  new  principles,  by  telling  a  young  man 
who  offered  to  join  the  church,  that  he  could  not  be  active 
in  admitting  him,  without  a  profession  of  piety.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1749,  he  communicated  his  views  to  the  committee  of 
the  church,  and  proposed  to  preach  on  the  subject ;  for, 
though  he  correctly  claimed  it  as  his  undoubted  right  to  se- 
lect the  subjects  of  his  sermons  according  to  his  own  discre- 
tion, he  thought  it  not  proper  to  bring  that  agitating  topic  into 
the  pulpit,  without  the  express  approbation  of  his  people. 
They  were  unwilling  that  he  should  preach  on  it ;  but,  as  the 
church  ought  to  be  informed  of  his  opinions  and  his  reasons 
for  them,  they  proposed  that  he  should  do  it  in  print.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  prepared  his  '-'  Humble  Inquiry  into  the  Rules 
of  the  Word  of  God,  concerning  the  Qualifications  requisite 
to  a  Complete  Standing  and  Full  Communion  in  the  Visible 
Christian  Church."  It  was  printed  at  Boston,  under  the 
supervision  of  Foxcroft,  and  with  a  letter  from  him  to  Ed- 
wards, as  an  appendix,  proving,  by  a  multitude  of  learned 
quotations,  that  the  Protestant  churches  of  Europe  had  always 
held  saving  grace  to  be  an  indispensable  qualification  for  ac- 
ceptably partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  They  did  not, 
however,  touch  the  question,  whether  the  church  ought  to 
exclude  those  who  give  no  evidence  of  saving  grace,  or 
whether  the  question  of  fitness,  except  in  cases  of  heresy 
and  scandal,  should  be  left  wholly  to  the  communicant. 
They  did  not  touch  the  conclusion  against  which  Edwards 
was  arguing,  but  they  demolished  one  of  its  chief  supports. 

"  Mr.  Edwards  was  sensible,"  his  biographers  tell  us, 
"that  his  principles  were  not  understood,  but  misrepresented 
through  the  country  ;"  but  they  do  not  tell  us  what  principles 
were  imputed  to  him.  We  may  learn  it,  however,  from  a 
consideration  of  the  circumstances. 

The  practice  introduced  by  Stoddard  had  become  general 
in  New  England.  The  old  churches  which  had  never 
adopted  it,  kept  on  their  way  quietly,  and  their  dissent  at- 
tracted no  attention.  The  Separatists,  however,  had  been 
loud  in  their  denunciations  of  churches  which  admitted 
"  hypocrites  "  to  their  communion,  and  were  the  only  body 
then  before  the  public,  as  opposers  of  the  church  member- 
ship of  unconverted  persons.      The  strength  of  their  system, 


views 
'1' 


408  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

that  which  gave  it  any  hold  on  the  consciences  of  men,  lay 
in  the  very  doctrine  which  Edwards  had  now  avowed.  What 
could  be  more  natural  than  a  cry,  that  he  was  going  over  to 
the  Separatists,  or  perhaps,  that  he  had  actually  adopted  their 

The  Rev.  Solomon  Williams,  of  Lebanon,  whose  influ- 
ence in  reclaiming  Davenport  was  well  known,  and  who  had 
published  a  reply  to  Croswell's  book  on  "  Justifying  Faith," 
and  who  had  thus  become  prominent  as  an  opposer  of  the 
Separatists,  answered  Edwards'  work  of  the  Qualifications 
for  Communion.  Edwards,  in  his  rejoinder,  which  finished 
the  controversy,  as  it  left  nothing  more  to  be  said,  comp^ain- 
ed  that  Williams  had  misrepresented  his  views.  Among 
other  "  misrepresentations,"  he  charged  Edwards  with  hold- 
ing, that  the  church  should  require  a  relation  of  the  candi- 
date's "  inward  experiences."  For  this,  the  Separatists 
were  distinguished.  He  charges  Edwards  with  insisting  on 
"an  account  of  such  inward  feelings,  as  are  by  men  supposed 
to  be  the  certain  discriminating  marks  of  grace."  This, 
again,  likened  him  to  the  Separatists  ;  and  he  himself  re- 
marks on  this  imputation,  "  Mr.  Williams  knew  that  these 
phrases,  '  experiences '  and  '  inward  feelings,'  were  be- 
come odious  of  late  to  a  great  part  of  the  country."  He 
represented  Edwards'  principles  to  be  "  such  as  suppose 
men  to  be  searchers  of  others'  hearts  ;"  a  standing  reproach 
against  the  Separatists.  Another  misrepresentation  was, 
that  Edwards  would  attempt,  as  if  it  were  practicable,  to  ex- 
clude all  unsanctified  persons  from  the  church.  This  also 
was  like  the  Separatists.  In  a  note  appended  to  his  Reply, 
Edwards  says,  "  Many  reports  spread  about  the  country, 
that  I  insisted  on  perfection  as  a  term  of  communion."  Per- 
fectionism had  appeared  among  the  Separatists.  About  the 
time  of  his  dismission,  some  of  the  Separatists  wrote  to  him, 
claiming  him  as  one  of  their  number;*  and  doubtless  they 
had  advanced  similar  claims  at  an  earlier  date. 

But  we  need  not  rely  on  inferences.  Edwards  himself 
sums  up  these  misrepresentations,  in  the  preface  to  his  Fare- 
well Sermon,  in  these;  words  :  "  That  I  insisted  on  persons' 
being  assured  of  their  being  in  a  state  of  salvation,  in  order 

. L__ . 

•  Backus'  Eccl.  Hist,  of  the  Baptists  in  N.  E.     Backus  was  first  a  Sepa- 
ratist, and  became  a  Baptist  about  this  time. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  409 

to  my  admitting  them  into  the  church  ;  that  I  required  a  par- 
ticular relation  of  the  method  and  order  of  a  person's  inward 
experiences,  and  of  the  time  and  manner  of  his  conversion, 
as  a  test  of  his  fitness  for  Christian  communion  ;  yea,  that  I 
have  undertaken  to  set  up  a  pure  church,  and  to  make  an 
exact  and  certain  distinction  between  saints  and  hypocrites, 
by  a  pretended  infallible  discerning  of  the  state  of  men's 
souls  ;  that  in  these  things  I  had  fallen  in  with  those  wild 
people,  who  have  lately  appeared  in  New  England,  called 
Separatists  ;  and  that  I  myself  was  become  a  grand  Separ- 
atist." 

The  Separatists  had  now  made  themselves  even  more  odi- 
ous than  they  were  when  Davenport  was  their  leader.  Some 
of  them  had  become,  in  their  own  esteem,  too  holy  to  re- 
ceive the  ordinances  from  any  such  minister  as  was  then  on 
earth,  and  therefore  baptized  each  other.  Some  of  them 
had  risen  above  the  obligation  of  their  marriage  covenants, 
and  the  scandalous  fruits  of  their  unlawful  intercourse  had 
become  notorious.*  Their  progress,  and  the  mischiefs  they 
wrought,  had  been  sufficiently  alarming,  before  such  scandal- 
ous immoralities  had  appeared  among  them,  and  while  Da- 
venport was  their  greatest  man.  What,  then,  might  be  ex- 
pected if  Edwards,  with  his  gigantic  power  and  immense 
personal  influence,  should  put  himself  at  their  head  ?  When 
we  consider  also,  that,  as  related  by  his  biographers,  several 
leading  men  had  previously  become  disaffected,  and  were 
ready  to  believe  the  worst  concerning  him,  and  to  propagate 
their  belief,  it  cannot  appear  strange  that  Northampton 
was  in  commotion,  that  his  people  refused  to  hear  him 
preach  in  defence  of  his  supposed  Separatism,  and  that  the 
greater  part  of  them  were  dissuaded  from  reading  his  book. 

The  final  council  on  this  subject  was  held  June  22,  1750. 
There  were  present,  ten  pastors  and  nine  delegates.  On  the 
question  of  his  dismission,  the  pastors  were  equally  divided. 
Each  of  the  delegates  voted  as  his  pastor  did  ;  and  as  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Billings,  of  Cold  Spring,  had  no  delegate,  there 
was  a  majority  of  one  in  favor  of  his  dismission.  Four  pas- 
tors and  three  delegates  of  the  minority  published  their  pro- 

*  Backus  gives  particular  instances,  with  the  recital  of  which  it  is  better 
not  to  stain  these  pages.  He  says,  however,  and  doubtless  with  truth,  that 
such  things  were  not  chargeable  on  the  Separatists  generally. 

35 


410  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

test,  for  several  reasons  ;  one  of  which  was,  "  his  sentiments 
being,  as  we  apprehend,  perfectly  harmonious  with  the  mind 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  strictly  conformable  with  the 
practice  of  the  apostles,  and  that  of  the  Reformed  Church 
in  general  throughout  the  world."  Four  of  the  majority 
j)ublished  a  reply  to  the  Protest.  This  called  forth  a  Vindi- 
cation of  the  Protest,  by  the  Rev.  William  Hobby,  of 
Reading,  one  of  the  protesters.  This  provoked,  from  the 
same  members  of  the  majority,  "  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hobby,  in  answer  to  his  Vindication."  This  letter  contained 
statements  which  Edwards  was  obliged  to  "nail  to  the  coun- 
ter," in  a  letter  to  Hobby,  through  the  press.  It  was  now 
June,  1751.  His  Reply  to  Williams  was  not  published  til! 
November,  1752  ;  about  three  years  and  a  half  after  his  first 
publication  on  the  subject. 

The  influence  of  these  proceedings  and  publications  could 
not  but  be  great.  The  name  of  Edwards  was  enough  to 
rally  all  who  had  still  held  to  the  primitive  constitution  of  the 
New  England  churches  ;  and  when  called  forth,  they  were 
far  from  being  contemptible,  either  in  numbers  or  in  weight 
of  character.  His  influence  was  enough  to  recommend  the 
doctrine  to  all  the  friends  of  the  revival.  The  revival  itself, 
by  reviving  the  belief  that  the  unregenerate  ought  to  be  treat- 
ed as  unregenerate,  in  order  to  their  conversion,  prepared 
and  predisposed  the  minds  of  its  friends  to  receive  his  doc- 
trine. His  dismission  produced  a  deep  feeling  of  astonish- 
ment, of  sympathy  for  him,  and  of  indignation  against  his 
opposers,  not  only  throughout  New  England,  but  in  the  other 
colonies,  and  even  in  Great  Britain.  All  these  things  drew 
attention  to  this  controversy,  and  disposed  the  pious  to  be 
on  his  side.  Half  the  ministers  of  the  council  that  dismissed 
him,  declared,  in  their  protest,  that  they  believed  his  doctrine 
to  be  according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  one  of  them,  Billings 
of  Cold  Spring,  was  dismissed  in  the  spring  of  1752  for  his 
adherence  to  it ;  but,  as  few  churches  could  be  willing  to 
place  themselves  by  the  side  of  that  in  Northampton  in  the 
public  estimation,  it  is  not  known  that  any  other  minister  was 
dismissed  for  the  same  cause. 

A  full  account,  in  detail,  of  the  spread  of  Edwards'  doc- 
trine concerning  church  membership,  would  be  interesting 
and  instructive  ;  but  materials  for  it  could  be  found,  only  by 
examining  the  records  of  die  several  churches  that  acted  upon 


THE  GREAT  AWAKEiXLNG.  411 

it ;  and  those  records,  in  most  cases,  were  badly  kept,  and 
a  great  part  of  them  have  been  lost.  We  know,  however, 
the  general  result.  Every  Congregational  church  in  New 
England,  probably,  has  either  adopted  that  doctrine,*  or  be- 
come Unitarian.  The  future  destiny  of  each  of  the  church- 
es seems  to  have  depended  more  on  its  treatment  of  this 
question,  than  on  any  other  single  event.  Those  that  were 
friendly  to  the  revival,  generally,  but  not  universally,  returned 
with  Edwards  to  the  ancient  doctrine  and  practice,  were 
thenceforth  composed  of  members  who  made  a  credible  pro- 
fession of  piety,  and  are  saved.  Those  hostile  to  the  revi- 
val, regarded  that  doctrine  and  practice  as  "divisive,"  as 
"uncharitable,"  as  "censorious,"  as  "an  invasion  of  God's 
prerogative,  to  judge  the  heart."  They  continued  the  prac- 
tice of  making  no  discrimination  between  men  as  converted 
or  unconverted,  and  in  most,  but  not  all  cases,  the  result  is, 
that  now,  no  man  is  excluded  from  their  communion  for  any 
error  in  doctrine,  or  any  immorality  in  practice  ;  f  and  in 
some  of  them,  even  the  form  of  church  membership  is  given 
up  ;  the  churches,  as  distinct  from  the  congregations,  no  long- 
er exist,  and  the  ordinances  are  administered  indiscriminately 
to  all  who  will  receive  them. 

This  revival  of  the  ancient  doctrine  produced  other  im- 
portant consequences.  It  destroyed  the  power  of  the  Sep- 
aratists. They  had  lived  and  increased  by  the  power  of  the 
truth,  that  churches  ought  to  be  composed  of  pious  men. 
For  a  time,  they  alone  had  attracted  attention  as  its  advo- 
cates. It  had  now  a  more  conspicuous  advocate.  The 
man  to  whom  all  eyes  were  turned  as  its  chief  defender,  was 
not  one  of  their  number.  Their  weapon  was  taken  away, 
and  wielded  by  a  mightier  hand.  The  host  that  rallied  un- 
der him,  out-numbered  them  immensely,  surpassed  them  still 
more  in  talents,  in   learning,  and  in  Christian   character,  and 

*  In  some,  —  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston,  for  example,  —  the  Half- 
way Covenant  system  has  never  been  expressly  abrogated,  but  only  fallen 
into  disuse. 

t  At  least,  the  most  extensive  inquiries  which  the  author  has  been  able  y 
to  make,  have  led  him  to  the  conclusion,  that  no  such  thing  as  discipline 
exists  in  the  Unitarian  churches.  Some  of  their  leading  publications  have 
submitted  in  silence  to  the  charge  of  its  entire  absence,  when  they  might 
be  expected  to  deny  it  if  they  could.  All  their  language  concerning  ex- 
communication and  exclusion,  strengthens  this  belief.  This  is  a  sufficient 
reason,  and  should  be  urged  as  the  prominent  reason,  why  membership  in 
a  Unitarian  church  cannot  be  a  passport  to  our  communion  tables. 


412  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

was  not  justly  chargeable  with  their  offensive  irregularities  ; 
still  less  with  the  immoralities  which  had  begun  to  appear 
among  them.  The  adoption  of  this  doctrine,  too,  shielded  a 
multitude  of  churches  from  their  most  dangerous  attacks  ; 
for  they  could  no  longer  plausibly  denounce  them  as  churches 
that  knowingly  admitted  hypocrites.  Thus  disarmed  of  its 
strength,  the  sect  ceased  to  grow,  and  soon  began  to  de- 
cline.* 

The  influence  of  this  change  on  other  communions  has 
been  important.  The  doctrine  that  churches  ought  to  be 
composed  of  pious  men,  so  appeals  to  the  conscience,  that 
none  who  hold  to  a  discoverable  difference  between  the  pi- 
ous and  the  impious,  can  wholly  withstand  it.  In  the  Uni- 
ted States,  its  power  is  felt  in  every  sect,  where  experimen- 
tal religion  is  not  condemned  as  a  delusion.  There  is  noth- 
ing in  the   "  Standards  "  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which 


*  They  seem  to  have  been  increasing  and  organizing  rapidly  about  this 
time.  Backus  (Vol.  2,  page  175)  gives  the  following  list  of  Separatist  or- 
dinations ;  — 

"  Solomon  Paine,  at  Canterbury,  Sept.  10 ;  Thomas  Stephens,  at  Plain- 
field,  Sept.  11  ;  Thomas  Denison,  at  Norwich  Farms,  Oct.  29  ;  Jedediah 
Hyde,  at  Norwich  Town,  Oct.  30;  Matthew  Smith,  at  Stonington,  Dec.  10  ; 
John  Fuller,  at  Lyme,  Dec.  25 ;  Joseph  Snow,  at  Providence,  Feb.  12, 
1747;  Samuel  Wadsworth,  at  Killingly,  June  3;  Paul  Park,  at  Preston, 
July  15;  Elihu  Marsh,  at  Windham,  Oct.  7  ;  Ebenezer  Frothingham,  at 
Wethersfield,  Oct.  28;  Nathaniel  Shepherd,  at  Attleborough,  Jan.  20, 
1743; —  Isauc  Backus,  at  Bridgewater,  April  13;  John  Paine,  at  Rehoboth, 
Aug.  3  ;  William  Carpenter,  at  Norton,  Sept.  7  ;  John  Blunt,  at  Sturbridge, 
Sept.  23;  Ebenezer  Mack,  at  Lyme,  Jan.  12,  1749;  —  Joshua  Nickerson,  at 
Harwich,  Feb.  23  ;  Samuel  Hyde,  at  Bridgewater,  May  1 1  ;  John  Palmer, 
at  Windham,  May  17;  Samuel  Hoveij,  at  Mcndon,  May  31  ;  Samuel 
Drown,  at  Coventry,  Oct.  11;  Stephen  Babcock,  at  Westerly,  April  4, 
1740,  [probably  a  misprint  for  1750  ;]  Joseph  Hastings,  at  Suffield,  April  7; 
Nathaniel  Ewer,  at  Barnstable,  May  17  ;  Jonathan  Hyde,  at  Brookline, 
Jan.  17, 1751  ;  Ezekiel  Cole,  at  Sutton,  Jan.  31 ;  Ebenezer  Wadsworth,  at 
Grafton,  March  20;  Nathaniel  Draper,  at  Cambridge,  April  24  ;  Peter 
Warden.  May  17." — To  these  he  adds  an  "  &c."  Not  improbably,  the 
punctuation  is  erroneous,  so  as  to  throw  some  of  them  into  the  wrong  year. 
Those   in  italics  became  Baptists. 

He  also  informs  us,  that  Elder  MouUon  baptized  thirteen  members  of 
the  Separatist  church  in  Sturbridge,  in  1749,  and  soon  after,  all  its  officers 
and  most  of  its  members,  more  than  sixty  in  number.  They  were  taxed, 
to  support  the  minister  of  the  Congregational  church.  In  Framingham,  a 
church  was  organized  by  a  council  in  1747.  It  seems  to  have  been  at  least 
tinctured  with  Separatism.  Its  members  were  taxed  for  the  support  of 
the  minister  of  the  town,  and  became  Baptists.  In  Titicut,  between 
Bridgewater  and  Middleborough,  where  a  revival  had  commenced  in  1741, 
some  parish  difficulties  ended  in  the  establishment  of  a  Separatist  meeting 
in  December,  1747;  a  church  was  organized  in  February,  1748;  its  mem- 
bers were  taxed,  a§  usual,  and  became  Baptists. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  413 

requires  evidence,  or  even  a  profession,  of  personal  piety,  as 
a  condition  of  membership  ;  and  yet  it  is  very  generally  re- 
quired. The  written  law  of  the  Wesleyans  is  as  Wesley 
left  it  ;  admitting  all  "  who  have  the  form,  and  are  seeking 
the  power,  of  godliness,"  with  such  a  seeking  as  the  unre- 
generate  are  capable  of ;  but  they  are  generally  unwilling  to 
admit,  that  they  receive  unconverted  men  to  their  commun- 
ion. In  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  there  are  multi- 
tudes who  regard  "confirmation"  as  a  profession  of  piety, 
such  as  is  made  by  those  who  join  Congregational  churches, 
and  who  are  grieved  if  it  is  not  so  understood  by  others.  In 
all  these  communions,  the  influence  of  this  great  idea  on  the 
members  and  on  the  public  around  them,  doubtless  enforces 
a  stricter  discipline,  and  makes  membership  without  apparent 
piety  more  uncomfortable  and  less  common.  It  does  much 
to  keep  unfit  members  out  of  those  communions,  and  to  se- 
cure regularity  of  life  among  those  that  are  within.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  revival  in  this  respect  can  scarce  be  estimated 
too  highly.  It  brought  out  and  presented  in  bold  relief,  the 
idea,  that  conversion  is  a  change,  ordinarily  discoverable  by 
its  effects,  so  that  he  who  exhibits  no  evidence  of  it,  may 
with  propriety  be  regarded  as  an  unconverted  man  ;  and  then 
it  created  a  demand  in  the  public  conscience,  for  evidence 
of  conversion  in  church-members  ;  and  the  beneficial  influ- 
ence of  this  demand  is  felt  in  all  evangelical  churches. 

It  would  be  curious,  and  might  be  instructive,  but  it  would 
require  a  volume,  to  trace  out  the  influence  of  this  great 
awakening  on  what  has  been  called  "  New  England  Theolo- 
gy." Its  great  names  are,  Edwards,  who  was  the  great  man 
of  the  revival  ;  Bellamy,  his  pupil,  a  younger  but  scarcely 
less  powerful  laborer  in  it ;  and  Hopkins,  who  was  converted 
during  the  revival,  and  also  studied  theology  with  Edwards. 
The  revival  could  not  fail  to  exert  a  powerful  influence  on 
their  theological  inquiries  ;  and  there  is  abundant  evidence, 
in  the  style  of  reasoning  which  they  introduced,  that  it  did 
not.  From  beginning  to  end,  it  all  looks  at  practical  results  ; 
it  seeks  to  produce  the  phenomena  of  a  revival  ;  it  aims  to 
work  a  change  in  the  sinner's  mind,  of  which  he  will  be  sen- 
sible, and  which  others  may  observe.  For  this  purpose,  it 
addresses  him  as  a  sinner,  as  an  unbeliever,  over  whom 
proof-texts,  even  from  the  word  of  God,  have  no  controlling 
power.  It  aims  to  show  him  the  reasonableness  of  the  con- 
35* 


414  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

stitution  under  which  God  has  placed  him,  and  of  the  de- 
mand, that  he  should  immediately  "  repent  and  be  convert- 
ed ;"  and  to  make  Iiim  feel  his  entire  dependence  on  God, 
and  at  the  same  time,  his  entire  responsibility  for  his  moral 
state.  Its  defects  sprung  from  the  same  source.  It  too 
much  neglected  whatever  in  theology  did  not  bear,  obviously 
and  directly,  on  these  favorite  points.  It  paid  too  little  atten- 
tion to  Biblical  proof,  the  force  of  which  the  impenitent  and 
unbelieving  would  not  feel.  And  in  the  hands  of  some  men 
of  a  later  day,  it  was  too  much  biased  in  favor  of  whatever 
scheme  promised  to  work  well  in  bringing  sinners  under  con- 
viction. In  other  words,  its  continual  regard  for  practical 
utility  led  some  to  embrace  doctrines  which  they  judged  to 
be  convenient,  instead  of  doctrines  which  they  had  proved  to 
be  true  ;  or  more  accurately,  perhaps,  to  take  their  own 
opinion  of  the  convenience  of  a  doctrine,  for  proof  of  its 
truth. 

Something  was  accomplished,  too,  in  the  cause  of  religious 
liberty,  in  various  parts  of  the  country  ;  but  as  the  mode  of 
operation  was  not  everywhere  the  same,  they  must  be  con- 
sidered separately. 

In  New  England,  it  gave  a  mortal  wound  to  parish  despo- 
tism. The  idea  of  religious  liberty  which  the  Puritans 
brought  with  them  to  New  England,  was  correct  so  far  as  it 
went  ;  and  it  went  far  in  advance  of  their  age.  They  held 
that  each  duly  organized  "  congregation  of  faithful  men  "  is  a 
church,  an  entire  church,  having  full  power  to  manage  its 
own  religious  concerns,  and  not  subject,  in  spiritual  matters, 
either  by  appeal  or  otherwise,  to  any  larger  body,  or  to  any 
man  or  body  of  men  ;  being  under  no  religious  obligations  to 
other  Christian  communities,  except  those  of  Christian  kind- 
ness, confidence  and  respect.  Even  those  of  them  who  were 
called  Presbyterians,  held  to  a  presbytery  of  elders  in  each 
congregation,  elected  by  the  brethren,  and  not  to  a  presby- 
tery composed  in  part  of  the  representatives  of  other  church- 
es ;  for  it  was  a  fundamental  principle  with  them,  that  no  Con- 
gregational church  could  rightfully  be  subjected  to  any  earthly 
jurisdiction  out  of  itself.  In  each  church,  every  question 
was  to  be  decided  by  a  majority  of  votes,  or  by  the  elected 
presbytery.  There  were  two  guards  against  the  despotism 
of  the  majority.  First,  the  church  had  no  jurisdiction  over 
any  but  its  own  members,  and  no  one  became  a  member  ex- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  415 

cept  by  his  own  request.  Secondly,  every  member  in  reg- 
ular standing,  had  a  right  to  transfer  his  membership  to  some 
other  church,  whenever  he  judged  it  necessary  "for  better 
edification."  A  system  of  religious  liberty  so  perfect  as  this, 
the  modern  world  had  never  seen,  and  few  of  its  wise  men 
had  ever  thought  of ;  and  it  would  not  be  easy,  even  now, 
to  tell  what  important  addition  has  been  made  to  its  prin- 
ciples. 

But  their  system  was  in  danger.  Except  themselves  and 
a  few  bold,  truth-trusting  brethren  in  England,  nobody  had 
any  respect  for  it,  or  would  hesitate  to  demolish  it  in  a  mo- 
ment, at  the  call  of  a  slight  temptation.  The  "  no-human 
government  theory  "  of  modern  days  was  then  rife  among  the 
Quakers,  some  of  whom  reduced  it  to  practice  more  revolt- 
ingly  than  any  have  done  of  late.  The  German  Anabaptists 
had  claimed  authority  from  heaven,  to  overthrow  all  govern- 
ment but  their  own,  by  force  of  arms.  The  Puritans  saw, 
or  thought  they  saw,  confusion  coming  in  from  both  these 
sources.  They  knew  that  they  must  maintain  good  order  in 
their  colony,  or  the  English  government  would  put  it  in  order 
for  them  without  ceremony,  and  probably  in  a  way  which 
would  not  spare  their  system  of  religious  liberty.  They 
thought  it  necessary,  therefore,  to  repress  Quakerism  from 
the  beginning  ;  and  when,  after  some  years,  their  Baptist 
brethren  began  to  adopt  the  German  doctrine  of  close  com- 
munion, to  denounce  their  churches  as  no  churches  of  Christ, 
and  to  gather  others  in  utter  disregard  of  them,  they  thought 
the  whole  brood  of  errors  which  had  desolated  Germany 
with  civil  war,  was  coming  in  upon  them,  and  that  this 
heresy  also  must  be  repressed.  It  was  doubtless  a  false 
alarm  ;  but  it  was  natural  and  honest,  and  soon  gave  way  to 
the  force  of  evidence.  The  Church  of  England,  too,  or 
some  of  its  members,  as  soon  as  the  colonies  began  to  rise 
in  importance,  wished  to  subject  them  and  all  their  inhabi- 
tants to  Episcopal  jurisdiction  ;  *and  the  plan  was  not  aban- 

*  Probably  many,  and  perhaps  most,  of  the  Episcopalians  in  the  colonies, 
were  innocent  of  any  such  design,  and  merely  desired  liberty  to  enjoy  such 
forms  of  worship  as  they  preferred  ;  but  the  liopes  of  some  of  the  leaders  were 
avowed  without  disguise,  and  those  of  others  were  plainly  visible  through 
the  disguise  they  threw  over  them ;  while  the  whole  party  were  in  favor  of 
a  system,  which  would  in  the  end  have  subjected  all  the  colonists  to  the 
dominion  of  bishops. 


416  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

doned,  till  the  establishment   of  Independence   rendered   it 
hopeless. 

Though  each  particular  form  of  danger  had  not  been  fore- 
seen, the  Puritans  had  been  aware  from  the  beginning,  that 
their  system  of  religious  liberty  would  be  assaulted  by  various 
forms  of  anarchy  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  despotism  on  the 
other  ;  and  they  felt  obliged  to  guard  vigilantly  against  the 
approaches  of  both.  They  allowed  the  formation  of  no 
church,  nor  any  preaching  that  might  lead  to  the  formation  of 
a  church,  on  any  anarchical  or  despotic  principles.  They 
required  every  church  member  to  submit  quietly  to  the  major- 
ity of  his  brethren  ;  or  to  transfer  his  membership,  peaceably 
and  regularly,  to  another  church  "  for  better  edification  ;  " 
or  to  unite  with  others  of  his  own  mind,  in  peaceably  and 
regularly  forming  a  new  church,  which  should  be  free  from 
any  principles  of  anarchy  or  despotism  ;  and  to  do  this  pub- 
licly, under  the  eyes  of  the  rulers  of  the  land,  so  that  the 
safety  of  their  proceedings  might  be  known  to  all.*  That 
compelling  all  men  to  receive  freedom  with  its  necessary 
safeguards,  even  against  their  will,  may  itself  be  a  species  of 
despotism,  seems  not  to  have  occurred  to  them  ;  or,  if  it  did, 
they  knew  not  how  to  avoid  it.  The  whole  country  was  di- 
vided into  parishes,  in  each  of  which  a  church  was  organized 
and  a  pastor  settled  according  to  law,  with  whose  rights  none 
were  allowed  to  interfere.  Almost  universally,  those  mem- 
bers of  a  parish  who  were  not  members  of  the  church,  regard- 
ed its  pastor  as  their  religious  teacher,  and  were  active  in  his 
selection,  settlement  and  support.  He  was  the  minister  of 
that  parish.  He  was  held  responsible  for  the  religious  in- 
struction of  its  inhabitants.  The  idea  grew  up  very  natur- 
ally, that  those  who  held  him  thus  responsible,  should  not  put 
themselves  under  other  teachers  without  his  leave,  and  that 
other  teachers  ought  not  to  derange  his  plans  of  usefulness, 
by  breaking  in  upon  his  parish  contrary  to  his  judgment ;  and 

*  If  those  who  held  to  the  baptism  of  believers  only,  and  that  by  immer- 
sion, had  been  willing  to  form  tlieir  cliurchcs  in  this  way,  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  they  would  have  met  willi  anj'  opposition.  It  is  quite  certain, 
that  Ihcy  were  not"  persecuted"'  for  their  belief  concerning  baptism,  or  for 
acting  according  to  it,  till  they  became  close-communionists,  and  set  at 
nouglit  the  establisiicd  ecclesiastical  order.  Tiien  their  principles,  as  they 
believed,  forbade  tliem  to  recognise  the  standing  ciiurches  as  churches  of 
Christ,  by  taking  letters  of  dismission  from  them ;  and  the  natural  result, — 
natural  in  that  age  of  the  world, —  soon  followed. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  417 

thus  it  came  to  be  extensively  felt,  botii  by  ministers  and 
others,  that  a  pastor  had  at  least  a  moral  right  to  control  the 
giving  and  receiving  of  religious  instruction  within  the  geo- 
graphical bounds  of  his  parish. 

There  would  be  no  valid  objection  against  this  system,  if 
we  could  only  secure,  in  every  parish,  a  pastor  who  would 
supply  all  the  spiritual  wants  of  every  one  of  his  parishioners  ; 
or  if  every  pastor  would  be  aware  of  his  own  deficiencies,  and 
supply  them  by  procuring  such  assistance  as  he  needs.  But 
as  the  world  is,  it  exposes  the  parishioners  of  a  worldly,  a  he- 
retical, an  indolent  or  an  incompetent  pastor,  to  spiritual  star- 
vation ;  and  that,  nothing  can  bind  them  to  endure,  or  other 
ministers  to  allow.  People  have  a  right  to  such  preaching 
as  they  need  ;  and  the  ministers  of  Christ  have  a  right  to 
preach  his  gospel  to  all  those  who  need  their  labors  ;  and  no 
minister  whose  people  are  perishing  through  his  deficiencies, 
can  possibly  have  any  Christian  right  to  interfere. 

This  truth,  the  revival  made  to  be  deeply  felt.  There 
were  many  pastors,  whose  people  needed  other  preaching 
than  theirs.  Their  people  became  convinced  of  it,  and 
would  hear  other  preachers.  Zealous  ministers  became  con- 
vinced of  it,  and  would  preach  to  the  perishing,  wherever 
they  found  them.  The  solemn  claims  of  eternity,  deeply 
felt,  overcame  all  regard  for  parish  lines  and  the  official  au- 
thority of  ministers. 

This  point  was  vigorously  contested  ;  as  appears  by  the 
whole  warfare  against  itinerants,  and  in  much  of  that  against 
the  Separatists.  The  reader  has  already  seen  how  it  was  as- 
sailed by  Testimonies  in  Massachusetts,  and  in  Connecticut 
by  legislation.  Ministers  not  only  refused  to  open  their  pulpits 
to  itinerants,  and  cautioned  their  people  against  hearing  them, 
—  which  they  had  an  undoubted  right  to  do,  if  the  itinerants 
were  dangerous  men,  — but  in  some  instances,  that  of  Odlin,  at 
Exeter,  for  example,  forbade  itinerants  to  preach  within  cer- 
tain geographical  limits.  They  laid  the  hand  of  authority, 
also,  on  members  of  their  churches.  Dr.  Chauncy,  in  his  Con- 
vention Sermon  in  1744,  urged  a  bold  and  vigorous  use  of 
church  discipline,  as  a  means  of  repressing  disorders,  and 
building  up  the  churches  "  in  peace  and  holiness."  Though  he 
spoke  in  general  terms,  he  alluded  very  distinctly  to  the  "  ex- 
horters,"vvho  "  left  their  own  business,  and  took  upon  them  the 
work  that  was  proper  to  ministers,"  and  to  the  disorders  which 


418  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

attended  their  meetings  ;  though  he  also  intimated  that  others, 
who  "  walk  in  a  disorderly  manner,"  needed  discipline.  In 
the  Convention  Sermon  of  the  next  year,  the  Rev.  Peter 
Clark  spoke  still  more  plainly.  He  proposed  the  inquiry, 
"Whether  the  disorderly  separations,  that  have  so  greatly 
prevailed  in  the  several  churches  of  the  land,  have  been  duly 
animadverted  on  in  the  way  of  ecclesiastical  disciphne." 
This,  he  thought,  "  the  most  likely  method  of  putting  a  stop 
to  it,  by  keeping  up  the  reverence  of  order  in  the  church  of 
God  ;  by  representing  the  beauty  and  majesty  of  Christ's 
spiritual  government  ;  by  letting  men  know  that  the  church 
of  Christ  is  not  a  confused  rout,  or  like  '  a  city  broken  down, 
and  without  walls,'  leaving  men  at  their  liberty  to  go  and 
come  without  control."  This  advice  was  followed,  proba- 
bly, in  many  places.  The  historian  of  Chelmsford  states,  that 
all  Separatism,  and  all  following  after  itinerants  and  exhort- 
ers,  was  effectually  repressed  there  by  church  discipline.  In 
many  places  the  Separatists,  not  having  organized  their 
churches  regularly,  according  to  law,  were  harassed  by  taxa- 
tion for  the  support  of  the  ministers  from  whom  they  had  se- 
ceded, of  which  several  instances  have  been  mentioned.  At 
last  this  system  of  annoyances  became  too  odious  to  be  con- 
tinued, and  fell  into  disuse  ;  but  the  contest  never  ceased, 
till  the  law  enabling  towns  to  settle  ministers  was  repealed,  and 
every  citizen  was  left  to  do  as  his  conscience  or  his  cove- 
tousness  might  dictate,  about  supporting  the  gospel.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  Unitarians,  who  are  the  ecclesiastical 
successors  of  the  disciplining  party,  defended  that  law  to  the 
last ;  and  that  the  Baptists,  and  all  who  are  descended  in 
whole  or  in  part  from  Separatism,  were  ever  its  uncompro- 
mising opponents. 

In  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  the  opera- 
tion was  different.  Here  was  the  principal  seat  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  The  agreement  by  which  the  two  Synods 
were  united  after  the  schism,  bound  each  minister  to  open  his 
pulpit  in  ordinary  cases  to  any  brother  who  desired  it.  This 
was  evidently  intended  to  secure  to  the  friends  of  vital  piety 
the  privilege  of  preaching  to  all  Presbyterians,  and  to  all 
Presbyterian  congregations  the  privilege  of  hearing  good 
preaching.  But  the  greatest  danger  there  was  from  episco- 
pacy. Under  the  administration  of  Lord  Cornbury,  in  1707, 
the  Rev.  Francis  Makemie,  the  patriarch  of  Presbyterian- 


THE   GREAT  AWAKENING.  419 

ism,  had  been  arrested  and  imprisoned  for  several  months, 
for  preaching  in  New  York  ;  and  there  is  Httle  doubt  that  on 
his  discharge,  he  was  obhged  to  repair  to  Boston,  to  get  the 
account  of  his  trial  and  imprisonment  printed.*  And  when 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York,  some  years 
after,  appHed  to  the  king  for  a  charter,  tliat  they  might  be 
enabled  to  hold  their  own  house  of  worship  and  burying- 
ground,  instead  of  vesting  them  in  the  Church  of  Scotland 
as  trustee,  the  Episcopahans  for  some  time  successfully  re- 
sisted the  apphcation.  The  Episcopalians  then  claimed  to 
be  the  established  church  in  New  York,  to  which  all  but  the 
Dutch,  whose  right  of  dissent  was  secured  by  treaty,  owed 
ecclesiastical  obedience.  Indeed,  some  of  them  advanced 
the  same  claim,  in  respect  to  all  the  colonies.  The  great 
increase  of  strength  which  the  revival  gave  to  Presbyterian- 
ism,  was  a  powerful  element  of  resistance  to  that  claim. 

In  Virginia,  Episcopalianism  was  as  rigidly  established  and 
enforced  by  law,  as  ever  Puritanism  had  been  in  New  Eng- 
land. All  were  taxed  to  support  the  clergy,  and  compelled 
by  fines  to  attend  worship.  In  the  preceding  century,  mis- 
sionaries from  New  England  had  been  arrested  and  sent 
home.  The  account  already  given  from  the  pen  of  Davies, 
concerning  the  origin  of  Presbyterianism  in  Virginia,  shows 
the  want  of  religious  liberty  at  that  time,  and  what  was  the 
first  efficient  agency  in  promoting  it.  Presbyterianism  con- 
tinued to  grow,  and  to  struggle  for  liberty  and  equality  of 
rights,  till,  being  joined  by  the  increasing  power  of  the  Bap- 
tists f  and  by  other  influences,  it  overthrew  the  spiritual  des- 
potism which  had  subsisted  from  the  planting  of  the  colony. 

The  establishment  of  religious  freedom  in  Virginia  was 
perfected  by  the  aid  of  that  political  party,  of  which  Jeffer- 
son was  the  leader.  Jefferson,  in  his  youth,  had  gained  his 
first  clear  idea  of  a  republican  government,  from  seeing  the 
Congregationalism  of  a  Baptist  church  in  his  vicinity. 
Though  a  French  infidel  in  respect  to  religion,  he  was  in  fa- 
vor of  liberty  everyvi^here.  It  was  good  policy,  too,  for 
him  and  his  party  to  strengthen  themselves  by  an  alliance 
with  the  friends  of  rehgious  freedom.  Their  writings, 
speeches  and  votes  on  this  subject  procured  them  favor  with 

*  See  the  account,  in  the  O.  S.  Ch.  Lib.  with  Ms.  annotations  by  Prince. 
1  The  First  Baptist  Association  in  Virginia  was  formed  in  1766. 


420  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

all  the  Baptists,  Methodists,  and  other  opponents  of  the 
Church  of  England  at  the  South,  and  with  the  members  of 
the  same  sects  generally  throughout  the  country  ;  while  it 
threw  all  the  friends  of  universal  taxation  for  the  support  of 
the  gospel,  and  all  whose  dread  of  French  infidelity  was 
their  strongest  religious  feeling,  into  the  opposite  party. 
Thus  the  influence  of  the  revival  in  Virginia  reacted  upon 
New  England,  and  aided  in  the  complete  establishment  of 
religious  fredom.* 

It  would  be  saying  too  much,  to  ascribe  to  the  revival  any 
appreciable  influence  in  producing  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  ;  though  the  waking  up  of  mind  among  men 
of  all  classes,  the  revival  of  those  truths  in  which  the  free 
spirit  of  Puritanism  had  its  origin,  the  earnest  discussion  of 
the  principles  of  freedom  and  human  rights,  and  the  habit  of 
contending  for  rights  sturdily  and  with  religious  zeal,  which 
was  nourished  among  men  of  all  orders,  were  doubtless 
useful  in  preparing  many  minds  for  the  questions  that  awaited 
them.  The  causes  of  resistance  to  British  aggression,  how- 
ever, were  older  and  more  general  than  the  influence  of  the 
revival,  and  operated  strongly  in  the  minds  of  families  and 
classes  that  opposed  it,  such  as  the  Hancocks  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia.  But  the  revival, 
con)mencing  when  the  mature  men  of  the  Revolution  were  in 
their  youth,  was  evidently  a  merciful  provision  against  the 
dangers  of  that  day.  The  demoralizing  influence  of  war 
awaited  the  land.  The  political  writings  of  Thomas  Paine, 
through  all  of  which  there  runs  a  secret  vein  of  infidel  meta- 
physics, were  to  become  popular.  The  country  was  about 
to  be  brought  into  close  alliance  and  friendly  intercourse  with 
France,  where  infidelity  was  already  rife,  and  was  soon  to  be 
openly  predominant.  The  French  republic  was  to  dazzle 
the  world  with  promises  of  freedom  more  perfect  than  the 
world  had  ever  seen,  but  of  which  infidelity  was  an  essential 
constituent,  and  this  country  was  to  be  under  peculiar  temp- 
tations to  be  deluded  by  them.  The  religious  principles  of 
the  country  needed  to  be  strengthened  in  advance,  against  all 

'*  This  was  not  the  principal  cause  which  produced  the  old  Federal  and 
Democratic  parties,  and  determined  the  character  of  each ;  but  its  influ- 
ence was  too  important  to  be  overlooked,  and  must  be  duly  appreciated  by 
every  one  who  would  understand  their  history.  The  political  affinities 
then  formed,  continue  still  to  operate  in  some  parts  of  the  country  ;  though 
the  cause  which  produced  them  has  long  ceased  to  exist. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  421 

these  dangers.  With  all  the  accession  of  strength  that  reli- 
gion received  from  the  revival,  it  did  but  just  stand  the 
shock ;  and  for  a  long  time,  many  of  the  pious  feared  that 
every  thing  holy  would  be  swept  away.  Strengthened  by  so 
many  tens  of  thousands  of  converts,  and  by  the  deep  sense 
of  the  importance  of  religion  produced  in  other  tens  of  thou- 
sands, both  in  and  out  of  the  churches,  religion  survived,  in 
time  rallied  and  advanced,  and  is  marching  on  to  victory.* 

This  great  revival  should  teach  the  Christian  world  some 
salutary  lessons,  which  it  would  be  improper  to  close  this 
work  without  mentioning. 

It  should  teach,  that  there  is  a  proper  sphere  for  the  la- 
bors of  itinerant  evangelists,  and  where  it  may  be  found. 

That  a  pastor  may  sometimes,  with  propriety,  leave  his 
own  flock  for  a  season,  in  the  care  of  a  substitute,  or  even 
without  a  substitute,  to  labor  where  his  help  is  needed  and 
desired,  no  one,  perhaps,  has  ever  doubted.  The  utility  of 
this  practice  is  too  manifest  to  be  called  in  question.  Such 
labors  were  often  performed  by  Edwards  and  others  in  New 
England  ;  and  by  the  Tennents  and  others  in  New  Jersey 
arid  Pennsylvania.  Such  was  Tennent's  visit,  and  White- 
field's  first  visit,  to  Boston.  But  this  is  not  itinerant  evan- 
gelism. Nor  is  there  any  good  reason  why  a  licentiate,  or 
an  ordained  minister  temporarily  without  charge,  should  not 
assist  a  pastor  who  needs  and  desires  his  assistance.  The 
question  relates  not  to  these.  It  relates  wholly  to  itinerant 
evangelists  by  profession  ;  to  those  who,  like  Whitefield, 
deem  it  their  "  duty  to  evangelize,  and  not  to  fix  in  any  par- 
ticular place."  It  can  scarce  be  any  man's  duty  to  resolve 
that  he  will  continue  in  such  labors  during  life  ;  for  he  can- 
not know  what  the  calls  of  duty  shall  be  on  the  morrow  ;  but 
there  is  a  proper  field  for  such  labors,  and  some  ought  to  en- 
gage in  them. 

Such   a  field  was    presented   by  Great  Britain  and  her 

*  Notwithstanding  all  that  is  said  of  the  "  degeneracy  of  the  age,"  and 
notwithstanding  all  the  lamentable  facts  which  give  it  plausibility,  the  au- 
thor is  fully  convinced,  as  the  result  of  the  best  induction  from  facts  with- 
in his  power,  that  this  country,  as  a  whole,  has  been  steadily  advancing  in 
religion,  in  good  morals,  in  regard  for  law  and  order,  and  in  rational,  Chris- 
tian ideas  of  liberty,  almost  if  not  quite  from  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century.  That  Scripture  is  fulfilled,  which  declares,  that  '■  the  memory  of 
the  wicked  shall  rot  "  The  faults  and  follies  of  former  \-ears  are  to  a  great 
extent  forgotten,  and  therefore  the  past  looks  better  than  it  really  was. 

36 


422  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING, 

American  colonies  in  the  time  of  Whitefield.  In  all  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  there  were  churches  which  had  a  name  to 
live,  but  were  dead.  Many  pastors,  in  various  parts,  were 
loose  in  their  lives  ;  many  in  all  parts  were  unsound  in  doc- 
trine ;  and  still  more  were,  —  to  use  Tennent's  language, — 
"contentedly  unsuccessful."  They  were  unwilling  to  be 
roused,  or  that  their  people  should  be  roused,  from  their  slum- 
bers. They  must  be  suffered  to  lead  their  people  down  to 
perdition,  or  some  evangelist  must  break  in  upon  them  and 
rouse  them  against  their  will.  It  was  so  in  New  England  ; 
though,  in  Whitefield's  judgment,  less  so  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world.  The  best  men  of  that  day  were  perfect- 
ly aware  of  it  ;  though,  for  various  reasons,  they  did  not 
proclaim  it  without  reserve.  The  "  contentedly  unsuccess- 
ful "  were  in  regular  ecclesiastical  standing,  and  generally 
free  from  any  such  overt  act  of  sin  or  avowal  of  heresy  as 
would  furnish  grounds  for  deposing  them  ;  and  the  cases  of 
many  were  so  doubtful,  that  a  good  man  would  not  dare  to 
accuse  them,  lest  he  should  do  them  injustice  ;  while  an  ac- 
cusation against  the  whole  body,  as  containing  unsound  mem- 
bers, would  be  met,  as  it  was  in  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
when  Blair  and  Tennent  made  it,  by  a  challenge  to  point  out 
and  convict  the  guilty.  They  therefore  brought  no  accusa- 
tions ;  but  they  silently  assumed  the  need  of  itinerant  evan- 
gelists, and  acted  accordingly.  This  may  have  been  a  blam- 
ably  timid  course,  but  it  was  perfectly  natural.  Its  character 
was  well  understood  at  the  time.  Tennent  was  questioned 
in  the  newspapers,  whether  his  coming  to  New  England  was 
not  prompted  by  the  belief,  that  the  settled  ministers  there 
were  insufficient  for  their  work.  Chauncy,  in  his  letter  to 
Whitefield,  put  the  same  interpretation  on  Tennent's  visit. 
To  this  question,  no  inoffensive  answer  could  be  returned, 
and  it  was  not  answered  ;  though  Tennent  answered  distinctly 
all  the  other  questions  that  accompanied  it.  The  same  cen- 
sure on  the  ministry  was  implied  in  the  arguments  by  which 
the  employment  of  itinerants  was  defended.  It  was  said  that 
no  great  reformation  had  ever  been  effected  without  such  la- 
bor ;  that  the  Reformers  in  Germany,  and  Knox  and  his  co- 
adjutors in  Scotland,  and  even  the  apostles  themselves,  were 
itinerants.  Prince  said,  that  Jesus  Christ  was  an  itinerant 
preacher.  This  argument  was  to  the  purpose,  only  on  the 
supposition    that  here,  as   in  the   cases   referred  to,   people 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  423 

were  led  astray  by  false  or  incompetent  guides,  who  ought  to 
be  converted,  or  displaced  by  a  reformation.  Whitefield 
himself  gave  his  opinion  without  reserve  in  his  Journal,  that 
"many,  perhaps  most  that  preach,"  were  unconverted  men  ; 
and  though  he  afterwards  justly  condemned  his  rashness,  in 
saying  this  with  so  little  opportunity  to  know  the  facts,  he 
never  retracted  his  opinion.  Other  itinerants,  besides  Da- 
venport, were  still  more  reckless.,  and  attacked  individual 
ministers  by  name,  as  unconverted,  and  wrote  them  letters 
of  admonition  and  warning  accordingly.  Tennent's  "  Not- 
tingham Sermon  "  was  republished  at  Boston,  and  extensive- 
ly circulated.  Every  thing,  in  short,  implied  the  belief,  that 
there  was  an  extensive  deficiency  in  the  ministry,  and  that 
a  reformation  was  needed.  The  sounder  part  of  the  minis- 
ters and  churches  could  not,  for  many  reasons,  proclaim  that 
they  were  too  good  to  need  the  remedy  which  they  insisted 
on  administering  to  their  brethren.  If  itinerants  were  to  be 
employed,  they  must  be  encouraged  to  go  through  the  land, 
and  preach  to  all  indiscrijninalely,  wherever  they  could. 
Thus,  and  thus  only,  could  the  hearers  of  "  contentedly  un- 
successful "  ministers  be  effectually  reached.  It  was  done. 
The  state  of  the  country  demanded  and  justified  the  doing  of 
it.  Whatever  language  of  general  approbation  may  have 
been  used  concerning  the  employment  of  itinerants,  the  con- 
trolling motive  for  employing  them  was  evidently  drawn  from 
the  existing  need  of  their  labors.  Among  the  Presbyterians, 
and  in  England,  the  same  motives  were  avowed  with  less 
restraint. 

The  ministry  for  whose  reformation  such  a  system  is 
adopted,  cannot  be  expected  to  submit  to  it  quietly.  It  be- 
gins with  an  implied  declaration,  that  they  are  unfit  for  their 
places,  and  unworthy  of  the  confidence  which  is  reposed  in 
them,  and  of  the  emoluments  they  receive  ;  and  it  threatens 
to  reduce  them  to  their  proper  level.  A  few  niay  be  com- 
pelled, by  their  own  consciences,  to  admit  the  truth  of  the 
charge,  and  may  reform  ;  but  generally,  they  will  resent  and 
repel  the  attack.  The  evangelist  will  often  be  compelled  to 
violate  ecclesiastical  order  and  ministerial  courtesy  ;  for  he 
goes  where  that  order  is  made  a  wall  of  defence  against  sav- 
ing truth,  and  where  that  courtesy  would  require  him  to  hon- 
or the  unfaithful.  If  successful,  he  will  divide  churches  and 
unsettle  ministers.     He  may  wish  and  seek  to  avoid  it  as  far 


424  THE  GREAT  AWAKENliNG. 

as  possible,  by  the  conversion  of  whole  churches  with  their 
pastors ;  but  such  will  not  be  the  usual  result  of  his  labors. 
He  brings  "not  peace,  but  a  sword,"  and  sets  neighbours, 
friends  and  families  "at  variance,"  and  will  be  condemned 
as  a  disturber  of  the  peace  of  society  and  of  the  churches  ; 
as  an  "uncharitable,"  "divisive"  and  "slanderous"  man. 
Unpleasant  as  such  things  are,  he  should  be  prepared  for 
them,  and  meet  them  without  disappointment,  and  without  ir- 
ritation. If  he  is  a  suitable  man,  and  performs  the  labors 
and  endures  the  trials  of  his  vocation  with  a  right  spirit,  the 
result  will  be,  as  it  ever  has  been,  good. 

The  events  of  that  day,  however,  give  no  sanction  to  the 
employment  of  itinerants,  where  there  is  no  such  need  of 
them.  How  could  they  ?  How  could  the  usefulness  of 
evangelists,  in  breaking  in  upon  degenerate  churches  in  de- 
spite of  unfaithful  pastors,  prove  that  they  must  be  useful  in 
a  community  of  sound  churches  under  faithful  pastors  .''  The 
experiment  was  not  tried  ;  for  there  was  no  considerable  re- 
gion on  earth,  in  which  to  try  it.  Some  things  were  said, 
indeed,  in  favor  of  employing  itinerants  irrespective  of  any 
fault  in  the  ministry  or  the  churches  ;  but  they  were  said  un- 
der the  influence  of  strong  temptation.  Men  must  say  them, 
or  own  that  the  employment  of  itinerants  implied  an  accusa- 
tion, which  they  were  unwilling  to  bring.  They  were  the 
mere  speculations  of  tempted  men,  concerning  what  would 
be  proper  in  a  state  of  things  that  did  not  then  exist,  and 
who  were  mainly  led  to  employ  itinerants  by  other  motives. 
They  are  therefore  of  little  weight. 

It  is  true,  that  itinerants  labored  in  some  of  the  soundest 
churches,  under  some  of  the  best  pastors,  in  the  land  ;  and 
'.hat  good  results  followed.  It  is  equally  true,  that  evil  re- 
>ults  followed  their  labors  in  such  places  ;  and  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  ascertain  how  much  of  the  good,  or  of  the  evil,  was 
iairly  chargeable  to  their  influence.  It  must  be  remembered, 
that  the  revival  was  not  commenced  by  the  labors  of  itiner- 
ants, but  of  settled  pastors  ;  of  Edwards  and  others  in  New 
England,  and  of  the  Tennents,  Blair,  and  their  coadjutors 
in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  It  commenced  even  be- 
fore Whitefield  began  to  preach  in  England.  Or  if  we, 
most  unphilosophically,  leave  the  "  Surprising  Conversions" 
at  Northampton  and  other  places  before  1739  out  of  the 
account,  still  the  revival  had  commenced  and  been  spreading 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  425 

in  New  England,  under  the  labors  of  the  pastors,  for  nearly 
a  year  before  Whitefield  arrived  ;  and  there  was  every  en- 
couragement to  hope,  that  it  would  be  more  extensive,  pow- 
erful, and  fruitful  of  good,  than  any  that  New  England  had 
ever  witnessed.  In  its  progress,  some  of  the  richest  harvests 
were  gathered  in  towns  where  itinerants  never  labored  ;  and 
in  some  places  where  the  best  results  attended  their  labors, 
the  awakening  had  commenced  before  their  arrival,  and  the 
results  would  have  been  good,  perhaps  equally  good,  and 
possibly  even  better,  without  their  assistance. 

The  history  of  that  period,  therefore,  furnishes  no  decisive 
answer  to  the  question,  whether  itinerant  evangelists  ought  to 
be  employed  among  sound  churches  having  faithful  pastors  ; 
though  it  furnishes  an  abundance  of  facts,  from  which  a  parti- 
san may  construct  a  plausible  argument  on  either  side.  But 
it  shows  that  churches  may  be  so  degenerate,  and  pastors  so 
unsound,  unfaithful,  or  "  contentedly  unsuccessful,"  as  to  jus- 
tify and  demand  their  employment.  If  any  attempt  to  em- 
barrass, and  practically  to  nullify,  this  conclusion,  by  asking 
who  is  to  judge  where  evangelists  are  needed,  and  whether 
every  evangelist  is  to  judge  for  himself,  and  go  wherever  his 
own  vanity  prompts  him,  the  answer  is  ready.  The  right 
and  wrong  of  every  case  depend  upon  its  circumstances,  and 
not  upon  any  man's  judgment  concerning  it.  The  evangelist 
must  inquire,  and  consult,  and  judge  correctly,  and  act  ac- 
cordingly, or  take  the  consequences  of  doing  wrong.  Neither 
his  office,  nor  his  erroneous  opinion  that  he  is  doing  right, 
nor  the  approbation  of  any  man  or  body  of  men,  can  justify 
him  in  intruding  his  services  upon  those  who  would  be  better 
without  them,  or  can  bind  any  to  receive  his  labors,  who  do 
not  need  them.  As  the  majority  of  the  signers  of  the  Tes- 
timony of  July,  1743,  correctly  thought,  "this  liberty  can- 
not be  invaded  or  denied  without  inhumanly  invading  the  es- 
sential rights  of  conscience  ;  so  it  must  be  left  to  the  serious 
consciences  both  of  ministers  and  people,"  whether  they  will 
admit  an  evangelist  among  them.  In  like  manner,  the  "  se- 
rious conscience  "  of  the  itinerant  must  decide,  to  whom  he 
will  offer  his  services,  and  how  strenuously  he  will  seek  ac- 
cess to  those  who  reject  him. 

Another  lesson  is  one  of  admonition,  concerning  the  dan- 
gers that  attend  a  revival.  Human  beings,  while  on  earth, 
are  always  in  some  danger  of  doing  wrong  things,  and  of  act- 

36* 


426  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

ing  in  a  wrong  spirit.  The  spirit  of  a  revival  gives  them  an 
impulse  towards  that  which  is  good,  but  by  no  means  makes 
(hem  infallible  ;  while,  in  many  cases,  the  consciousness  that 
they  are  moving  mainly  in  a  right  direction,  diminishes  their 
sense  of  liability  to  error.  Those  whose  humility  and  self- 
distrust  are  too  weak  in  proportion  to  their  zeal,  naturally 
become  obstinate  in  their  errors,  and  condemn  all  who  hesi- 
tate to  embrace  them.  When  the  most  zealous  leaders  have 
at  length  placed  themselves  clearly  in  the  wrong,  the  common 
sense  of  mankind  revolts  against  them,  their  influence  for 
good  ceases,  and  the  revival  ends  in  a  quarrel.  In  time, 
passion  subsides ;  those  who  have  quarrelled  are  assailed  by 
remorse  ;  they  become  penitent ;  they  seek  and  obtain  par- 
don for  their  sins  ;  another  revival  commences,  and,  if  they 
have  not  learned  humility  and  a  teachable  spirit,  ends  like  the 
former.  Instead  of  moving  steadily  onward  in  the  straight 
line  of  duty,  they  move  in  a  circle,  which  at  first  touches  that 
line,  and  varies  from  it,  as  they  advance,  only  by  an  almost 
imperceptible  difference,  which  no  man  can  notice  without 
seeming  censurably  cold  ;  but  which  gradually  diverges,  and 
at  length  carries  them  away  at  right  angles  from  their  proper 
course,  and  then  backward,  and  round  again  to  the  point 
from  which  they  started. 

When  a  revival  is  very  powerful  and  very  general,  so  that, 
to  those  within  its  influence,  the  whole  world  seems  to  be 
awakened,  they  are  very  apt  to  talk  of  "the  spirit  of  the 
age,"  to  take  that  spirit  for  their  guide,  and  to  condemn  or 
approve  of  men,  in  proportion  to  the  entireness  with  which 
that  spirit  governs  them.  This  is  "mistaking  the  vane  for 
the  compass,"  and  is  sure  to  end  in  evil.  The  spirit  of  any 
age  is  the  spirit  of  the  men  of  that  age  ;  the  spirit  of  men 
either  wholly  sinful,  or  sanctified  but  in  part.  It  is,  there- 
fore, either  wholly  or  in  part,  a  wrong  spirit ;  and  whoever 
gives  himself  up  to  be  led  by  it  without  reserve,  will  inevita- 
bly be  led  into  sin  and  folly.  Such  persons,  "  measuring 
themselves  by  themselves,  and  comparing  themselves  among 
themselves,  are  not  wise."  The  spirit  of  the  purest  revival 
has  in  it  a  mixture  of  error  and  of  evil,  and  must  be  often 
rorrected  by  a  standard  more  perfect  than  itself,  or  it  will 
bring  itself  to  an  end  by  its  own  faults.  Detecting  the  faults 
of  a  revival,  therefore,  and  correcting  them,  is  a  work  of  the 
first  importance. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  427 

On  this  subject,  the  history  of  the  "Great  Awakening'' 
is  full  of  instruction. 

Consider  the  temptations  and  errors  of  Whitefield  ;  his 
letter  to  Pemberton  of  New  York,  asking  pardon  for  his  arro- 
gant treatment  of  him,  when  "  puffed  up"  with  success  ;  his 
letter  from  Savannah,  full  of  thanks  for  reproof,  and  entreat- 
ing forgiveness  of  all  his  friends  for  his  "  too  imperious  car- 
riage ;"  his  dictatorial  letter  to  Wesley,  written  while  "  puffed 
up  "  by  his  first  triumphs  at  Boston,  which  every  writer  on 
his  character  mentions  to  this  day, — his  friends  with  regret 
and  his  enemies  with  triumph  ;  the  self-complacent  vanity 
with  which  he  told  how  well  he  preached  whenever  the  gov- 
ernor heard  him ;  and  the  rash  and  indecent  haste,  with 
which  he  condemned  the  majority  of  New  England  pastors  as 
graceless  men,  when  he  had  not  had  time  to  form  even  a 
probable  conjecture  of  their  character.  Think  of  the  half 
holy,  half  ambitious  aspirations  of  Barber  and  Davenport,  for 
a  great  revival,  which  should  do  great  good  and  make  them 
great  men  ;  and  how  Davenport,  more  and  more  deceived, 
continually  rising  in  his  own  esteem,  and  mistaking  the  un- 
healthy stimulus  of  a  fever  for  the  illapses  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
became  an  obstinate  and  wrathful  fanatic.  To  say  nothing 
of  multitudes  of  weak  and  ignorant  men,  who,  moved  by  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  gave  themselves  out  for  great  ones,  and 
went  about  zealously  doing  mischief  where  they  meant  to  do 
good,  —  think  of  saner  men  than  Davenport ;  of  Allen,  com- 
paring the  Bible  to  an  old  almanac  ;  of  Wheelock,  raising  his 
voice,  so  as  to  increase  the  confusion,  when  his  hearers  cried 
out,  pushing  the  most  exciting  exercises  to  the  most  exciting 
extent  and  duration,  and  recording  in  his  journal  before  he 
slept,  that  so  many  "were  converted"  that  evening;  of 
Brainerd,  thinking,  feeling,  speaking  and  acting  with  such 
"indecent  heat,"  for  months,  that  he  himself  condemned  his 
journal  for  that  period  to  the  flames,  and  began  anew  by  re- 
cording its  condemnation.  The  proof  is  conclusive,  that  ^ 
leaders  in  a  revival  are  in  special  danger  of  becoming  proud, 
arrogant,  rash  and  unsafe  men.  Nothing  but  exemplary 
watchfulness  over  their  own  spirits,  aided  by  faithful  admoni- 
tions and  rebukes  from  those  who  see  their  faults,  and  attend- 
ed by  the  special  grace  of  God,  can  prevent  it.  The  proof 
is  conclusive,  too,  that  the  itinerant  revivalist  is  in  peculiar 
danger.     As  he  naturally  soon  leaves  a  place  where  he  is 


42S  THE  GREAT  AWAKEiNlNG. 

unsuccessful,  he  spends  most  of  his  time  where  his  own 
power  over  the  minds  of  men  is  the  most  conspicuous  object 
in  his  sight,  and  where  he  is  dehghted  with  the  visible  proofs 
of  his  own  eminent  usefulness  ;  and  he  is  evermore  surround- 
ed by  those  who,  either  through  design  or  indiscretion,  act 
tiie  part  of  flatterers,  even  otherwise  than  by  their  presence 
and  interested  attention  to  all  he  says.  He  has  abundant 
reason  to  know,  with  Whitefield,  "how  difficult  it  is,  to  meet 
with  success,  and  not  be  puffed  up  with  it,"  and  to  say  with 
him,  "my  corruptions  are  so  strong,  and  my  employ  so  dan- 
gerous, that  I  am  sometimes  afraid." 

The  itinerant's  danger  is  the  greater,  from  the  improbabil- 
ity that  he  will  receive  such  admonition  and  reproof  as  he 
needs.  If  he  has  habitual  attendants,  as  Whitefield  had, 
they  will  mostly  be  his  devoted  friends,  who  admire  all  his 
errors.  Much  the  greater  part  of  his  intercourse  is  with 
comparative  strangers,  who  are  aware  that  they  do  not  know 
him  well  enough  to  admonish  him  judiciously,  and  that  he 
does  not  know  them  well  enough  to  appreciate  their  admoni- 
tions, and  who  therefore  excuse  themselves  from  the  task. 
Opposers  will  speak  of  his  faults  ;  but  his  friends  will  pro- 
nounce their  censures  unjust,  and  will  be  indignant ;  and  he 
will  see  that  they  are  exaggerated,  and  perhaps  malicious, 
and  will  probably  give  no  heed  to  them  ;  or  perhaps  he  will 
think,  that  what  "  the  enemy  "  hates,  must  be  right ;  and,  as 
he  finds  numbers  ready  to  sustain  him,  will  go  on  in  his  er- 
rors. What  good  man  ever  needed  checking  in  his  career, 
more  than  Davenport,  when  he  came  to  Boston  ?  And  yet 
what  an  outcry  was  raised,  because  the  pastors  protested 
against  his  errors,  while  they  avowed  their  hope,  that  God 
had  used  him  "  as  an  instrument  of  doing  good  unto  many 
souls  !"  "  And  why,"  exclaimed  Crosvvell,  in  his  published 
reply,  "are  they  not  willing  that  God  should  use  him  as  an 
instrument  of  doing  good  unto  more  souls  ?  "  And  numbers 
of  zealous  men  were  found,  to  echo  the  reply  ;  Boston  was 
filled  with  angry  controversy,  and  the  awakening  there  was 
at  an  end.  Even  such  faults  as  his  could  not  be  reproved, 
without  bringing  such  rebukes  upon  the  reprovers.  The 
preaciier  and  his  partisans  grow  wild  together  ;  and  whatever 
be  his  faults,  no  one  can  mention  them,  without  being  de- 
nounced as  an  opposer  of  the  work  of  God.* 

*  For  a  further  illustration,  see  Turell's  Directions  to  his  People,  and 
Croswell's  Answer. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  429 

. — y  Almost  inevitably,  therefore,  the  itinerant  will  become  an 
X  obstinate  man  ;  obstinate  in  his  errors,  and  obstinate  in  pro- 
portion to  his  errors.  Of  all  the  itinerants  of  that  day, 
Whitefield  is  the  only  undoubted  exception.  Davenport, 
indeed,  was  said  to  be  reclaimed  by  the  labors  of  Williams 
and  Wheelock  ;  but  it  was  not  till  his  bodily  fever  subsided. 
While  that  continued,  no  reproof  had  any  effect  upon  him, 
but  to  bring  down  upon  the  reprover  a  sentence  of  condem- 
nation, as  an  unconverted  man,  and  an  opposer  of  the  work 
of  God  ;  or  at  best,  as  "  Jehoshaphat  in  Ahab's  army." 
As  to  the  rest,  scarce  an  instance  can  be  found,  in  which 
any  one  of  them  profited  by  admonition  or  reproof.  Some 
of  them  at  length  became  pastors  of  churches  as  excited  as 
themselves,  and  both  grew  sober  together.  Others  sunk  into 
insignificance  and  are  forgotten.  But  Whitefield  profited  by 
reproof.  Sometimes,  when  more  than  usually  "  pufied  up," 
as  on  his  visit  to  Northampton,  he  suffered  in  this  respect 
like  other  itinerants,  and  pointing  out  his  errors  rather  alien- 
ated him  than  reformed  him ;  but  very  generally,  he  was 
thankful  to  friends  who  reproved  him,  and  candidly  considered 
the  rebukes  even  of  his  enemies,  and,  if  they  had  convicted 
him  of  real  faults,  confessed  them  and  reformed.  Witness 
his  treatment  of  Dr.  Chauncy,  and  of  the  Faculty  of  Harvard 
College.*  This  trait  in  his  character  saved  him;  and  he 
continued  to  be  useful,  and  to  rise  in  public  estimation,  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  Had  he  been  obstinate,  like  others,  he 
would  have  sunk,  like  them,  into  obscurity  after  a  short  ca- 
reer, and  been  long  since  forgotten  by  the  world  at  large,  as 
they  have  been.  Whitefield  was  not  more  distinguished  from 
other  itinerants  by  his  surpassing  eloquence,  than  by  his  read- 
iness to  be  corrected  ;  and  this,  without  which  all  his  other 
gifts  would  have  been  worse  than  lost,  should  receive  the 
special  attention  of  those  who  think  of  making  him  their 
model. 

It  is,  however,  of  little  use  to  give  advice  to  men  who  are 
vain  and  ignorant  enough  to  entertain  such  a  thought.  Make 
Whitefield  their  model  !     W^hat  would  you  say  to  a  man  who 

*  Doubtless,  "  Prince,  Webb,  Foxcrofl  and  Gee,"  who,  it  was  said,  "  di- 
rected all  his  public  conduct"  during  his  second  visit,  were  of  use  to  him 
in  this  respect;  but  his  letter  to  Chauncy  was  written  while  he  was  sick  at 
Portsmouth,  before  he  met  them ;  so  that,  though  it  was  probably  improved 
by  their  suggestions  before  publication,  the  honor  of  originating  it  is  clearly 
his. 


430  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

should  seriously  propose  to  make  Samson  his  model,  in  feats 
of  bodily  strength  ?  You  would  say  of  him,  that  his  egregi- 
ous over  estimate  of  himself  renders  him  unfit  to  be  reasoned 
with.  A  man  of  sufScient  power  to  be  a  Whitefield,  would 
be  incapable  of  forming  himself  after  a  model.  He  must, 
from  the  nature  of  his  own  mind,  strike  out  a  course  for  him- 
self. Whitefields  cannot  be  made  by  imitation  ;  and  he  who 
is  not  aware  of  it,  is  incapable  even  of  understanding  the 
character  that  he  would  assume.  It  is  of  little  use  to  argue 
with  them.  Though  it  is  lamentable  that  any  thing  of  the 
kind  should  occur  in  the  history  of  religious  effort,  they  must 
be  left  to  reahze  what  Pollock  says  of  those  who  would  ape 
Lord  Byron  :  — 

"  Many,  that  aimed  to  imitate  his  flight 
With  weaker  wing,  unearthly  fluttering  made, 
And  gave  abundant  sport  to  after  days."* 

But  they  will  not  merely  make  sport.  They  will  do  positive 
injury.  All  religious  effort  which  does  not  commend  itself 
to  the  understandings  and  consciences  of  men,  brings  dis- 
credit upon  religious  effort  in  general,  and  upon  all  who  are 
engaged  in  it,  and  thus  destroys  their  power  to  do  good. 
The  bad  behaviour  of  itinerants,  the  avowed  imitators  of 
Whitefield,  from  1742  to  1744,  furnished  the  enemies  of  the 
revival  with  an  excuse  for  shutting  the  whole  class,  including 
^Whitefield  himself,  out  of  their  pulpits  ;  and  such  an  excuse 
that  their  people  very  generally  sustained  them,  and  many 
who  were  friends  and  efficient  promoters  of  the  revival  at 
first,  were  compelled  to  unite  with  them.  Nor  was  this  all. 
The  enemies  of  the  revival  were  furnished  with  means  of 
blackening  the  reputation  of  the  whole  work.  They  were 
able  to  make  many  believe  that  those  errors  and  their  bad 
fruits  were  essential  and  main  parts  of  what  was  called  "this 
work,"  and  "this  work  of  God  ;"  and  thus,  that  the  work, 
as  a  whole,  was  a  bad  work  from  the  beginning,  and  ought 

*  It  is  often  said,  that  Whitefield  cannot  have  been  a  very  great  man,  be- 
cause his  sermons  contain  only  plain,  common  thoughts,  such  as  men  of 
ordinary  minds  habitually  use.  But  what  made  those  thoughts  so  common  ? 
Tiiey  were  not  common  when  he  began  to  utter  them.  In  England  espe- 
cially, and  to  a  considerable  extent,  here  also,  they  astonished  his  hearers 
by  their  strangeness.  What  is  more  common,  than  a  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic  ?  But  was  Columbus,  therefore,  only  an  ordinary  man  ?  The 
case  of  Copernicus  is  more  nearly  parallel.  He  reasserted  a  truth  which 
had  been  uttered,  repudiated  and  forgotten.  That  truth  is  now  common, 
even  among  schoolboys.     But  was  he,  therefore,  only  a  child  in  intellect? 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 


431 


to  be  opposed.  Evangelism  tempted  the  itinerants  into  er- 
rors, and  into  obstinacy  in  error  ;  and  their  errors  furnished 
materials  for  a  wall,  which  effectually  stopped  the. progress 
of  the  revival.* 

And  finally,  the  Great  Awakening  should  teach  a  lesson 
of  faith,  of  encouragement,  of  cheerful  hope,  even  in  the 
darkest  times.  We  are  too  apt  to  be  thrown  into  despon- 
dency by  every  departure  from  our  own  notions  of  order  and 
propriety,  and  to  think  that  when  every  thing  does  not  move 
exactly  as  we  would  have  it,  every  thing  is  going  to  destruc- 
tion. We  forget  the  inspired  sentiment  :  "  The  wrath  of 
man  shall  praise  thee,  and  the  remainder  of  wrath  thou  shalt 
restrain."  We  forget,  that  all  the  powers  of  darkness  are  en- 
tirely under  the  control  of  the  Father  of  light,  and  are  per- 
mitted to  make  no  movement,  which  he  will  not  overrule  for 
the  advancement  of  his  cause.     Irregularities  may  work  evil, 


*  It  is  surprising,  that  the  enemies  of  the  revival  were  so  generally  able 
to  hold  their  places.  By  the  outcry  which  they  raised,  one  would  think 
that  a  great  part  of  them  were  driven  from  their  parishes,  and  that  the  rest 
were  in  imminent  danger;  whereas,  in  fact,  the  increase  of  dismissions 
was  very  little  more  than  in  proportion  to  the  growth  of  the  country,  and 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  pastors ;  as  will  appear  by  the  following  ta- 
ble, constructed  from  several  volumes  of  the  American  Quarterly  Register. 

Dismissions  in  nine  Counties  in  Massachusetts ,  from  1731  to  1760,  inclusive. 


Counties. 

Suffolk, 
Middlesex, 
Norfolk, 
Essex, 
Worcester, 
Plymouth, 

Hampshire,  (now  Hampshire, 
Hampden  and  Franklin,) 
Bristol, 
Berkshire, 

Total. 


1731  to  1740. 
0 
3 
2 
4 
3 
1 

1 
1 

0 

15 


1741  to  1750.  1751  to  1760. 


2 
2 
2 
4 
4 
5 

4 
0 
0 

23 


1 
8 
3 
3 
5 
4 

6 
3 
1 

28 


The  causes  of  the  dismission  of  Edwards  at  Northampton,  in  1750,  and 
of  Billings  of  Cold  Spring,  soon  after,  have  already  been  stated.  Maccarty, 
of  Kingston,  was  a  friend  of  the  revival;  and  the  opposition  of  its  enemies 
among  his  people  led  to  his  dismission  in  1745 ;  after  which  he  spent  the 
long  remainder  of  a  useful  life  at  Worcester.  Burr,  of  Worcester,  was  dis- 
missed in  1745 ;  and  Lincoln's  History  of  Worcester  suggests,  that  probably 
the  "New  Lights"  were  in  part  the  cause  of  it.  There  may  have  been 
other  cases  of  the  kind,  but  no  intimation  of  them,  has  been  found.  Con- 
sidering how  many  of  them  were  worthy  to  be  dismissed,  such  could  not 
have  been  the  result,  had  not  the  faults  of  the  itinerants  and  their  partisans 
enabled  them  to  enlist  the  consciences  of  men  on  their  side,  against  the 
revival,  after  it  had  become  degenerate. 


432  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

and  it  may  be  our  duty  to  resist  them  ;  for  cur  resistance 
may  be  the  appointed  means  of  restraining  "  the  remainder 
of  wrath."  But  God  will  surely  produce  an  overbalance  of 
good,  and  will  bring  good,  even  out  of  the  evil.  Our  system 
of  forms  and  opinions  may  be  the  best  the  world  ever  saw, 
and  better  than  any  other  that  we  can  conceive  ;  but  God's 
time  may  have  come  to  make  the  world  wiser,  and  introduce 
better  forms  and  opinions  even  than  ours.  In  such  revolu- 
tions, the  human  understanding  seldom  goes  intelligently  fore- 
most, clearly  comprehending  the  good  to  be  accomplished, 
and  the  means  of  attaining  it.  Oftener,  God  stirs  up  the 
hearts  of  men  to  an  irrepressible  longing  for  something  bet- 
ter than  their  minds  clearly  conceive  ;  society  is  agitated  by 
their  well-meant  but  ill-directed  efforts,  like  those  of  the  Sep- 
aratists, seeking  a  pure  church  ;  till  at  length,  some  giant 
mind,  like  that  of  Edwards,  or  more  often,  the  common 
sense  of  the  community  of  the  pious,  discerns  the  rising  truth 
which  is  to  enlighten  the  world.  In  the  church,  as  in  the 
natural  body,  painful  and  alarming  symptoms  are  generally  the 
struggle  of  the  vital  powers  against  some  latent  cause  of  dis- 
ease ;  but,  as  the  church  cannot  die,  the  struggle  ends  in  the 
victory  of  the  vital  powers,  and  the  establishment  of  more 
perfect  health. 

When  did  appearances  ever  justify  more  gloomy  forebod- 
ings, than  from  1742  to  1745  ^  The  whole  land  was  full  of 
angry  controversy.  Pastors  were  divided  against  pastors, 
churches  against  churches,  and  the  members  of  the  same 
church  against  each  other,  and  against  their  pastor.  The 
established  rules  of  ecclesiastical  order  were  set  at  defiance, 
and  openly  trampled  upon  in  the  name  of  God  ;  and  numbers 
were  everywhere  found  to  justify  and  adhere  to  those  that 
did  it.  Ignorant  and  headstrong  men  were  roaming  at  large, 
pretending  to  be  under  the  immediate  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  slandering  the  best  men  in  the  land,  and  multi- 
tudes believed  them.  Religious  meetings  were  often  attend- 
ed with  disorders,  from  which  the  most  reckless  "  new 
measure  man  "  of  the  nineteenth  century  would  shrink  back 
in  absolute  dismay.  Conversions,  most  evidently  spurious, 
were  proclaimed  as  real,  and  God  was  publicly  praised  for 
them  ;  and  supposed  converts,  concerning  whom  even  the 
judicious  had  hoped  favorably,  were  falling  away  by  thou- 
sands.    One  system  of  false  theology  was  gaining  favor,  as  a 


'• 


THE  GREAT  AWAKEiNING.  433 

means  of  opposing  these  evils  ;  and  another  system,  equally 
false  and  more  directly  pernicious,  was  mingling  with  the  re- 
vival itself,  and  spreading  as  it  advanced.  Why  should  not 
good  men  be  alarmed  ?  Select,  from  the  preceding  accounts, 
ten  places,  where  the  revivals  were  the  most  pure,  and  or- 
derly, and  unexceptionable.  The  occurrence  of  ten  such 
revivals  now,  in  orthodox  churches  under  the  guidance  of 
pastors  of  good  repute,  would  fill  the  land  with  consternation. 
It  is  no  wonder,  that  good,  judicious,  sober  men  were  alarm- 
ed ;  that  they  thought  the  conversion  of  some  hundreds 
or  thousands  had  been  purchased  at  too  dear  a  rate  ;  that 
they  pronounced  the  revival  a  source  of  more  evil  than  good, 
and  on  the  whole,  itself  an  evil ;  that  they  joined  its  oppcsers, 
and  ever  after  kept  as  far  as  practicable  from  every  thing  of  a 
similar  appearance.  Now,  when  the  lapse  of  a  century  has 
shown  to  what  those  things  were  tending,  we  see  clearly 
enough  that  the  fears  of  those  good  men  deceived  them,  and 
that  those  only  were  in  the  right,  who  adhered  to  the  revival, 
while  they  contended  against  its  errors. 

There  was,  indeed,  abundant  cause  to  apprehend  evil,  and 
to  be  active  in  opposing  it,  and  setting  bounds  to  its  progress. 
In  this  work,  Edwards  lamented  that  he  had  not  dared,  in 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  revival,  to  do  what  he  afterwards  saw 
to  have  been  his  duty,  lest  he  should  do  mischief;  and 
others  had  much  more  reason  than  he  had,  for  the  same  la- 
mentation. But  there  never  was  any  reason  to  fear  that  God 
would  not  take  care  of  his  own  kingdom,  or  to  forget  that  by 
those  very  commotions,  he  was  working  out  the  best  in- 
terests of  his  church  and  of  the  human  race.  We  can  see 
that  it  was  so  ;  and  they  ought  to  have  believed  that  it  would 
prove  so.  They  could  then  have  labored  with  cheerful 
hope,  with  courage,  and  therefore  with  effect,  in  promoting 
the  good  and  diminishing  the  evil.  We  should  profit  by  their 
history,  and,  in  the  midst  of  commotions  which  threaten  the 
stability  of  all  that  is  good  on  earth,  should  remember,  that 
the  great  Disposer  of  events  is  only  exchanging  what  is  im- 
perfectly good  for  what  will  be  better,  and  is,  with  an  infinite 
calmness,  working  out  results,  which,  though  now  beyond 
our  comprehension,  will  minister  to  our  everlasting  joy. 

THE    END. 

37 


<9 


^' 


IHSlMl'imTr'-^''"'   L'brar, 


1    1012  01096  2043 


DATE  DUE 


fio 


5  my 


,^ 


CAYLORO 


PHINTEO  IN  U.G    A 


